“This is the beginning of a third Palestinian Intifada, which is erupting from the heart of Hebron and will spread to all of Palestine.”

One must be careful with this type of evidence; after all there is more than one reason for the Israeli political police, Shin Beth, to fake such a video. Moreover, considering the clothing of the participants it would be remarkably easy to falsify it even for the youngest agent, maybe as a graduation project. Yet, the video matches other developments on the ground and thus it is credible. It was posted on YouTube on December 15, 2012, by an alleged coalition of Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. These are the four main Palestinian political parties. Considering the disintegration of Palestine into Hamas-controlled Gaza and Fatah-controlled West Bank, this video is by itself groundbreaking news. However, it contains more than an image of unity. Its main message is “This is the beginning of a third Palestinian Intifada, which is erupting from the heart of Hebron and will spread to all of Palestine.” This will be achieved through the newly established “National Union Battalions.”

Let me translate this into simple terms. Following the acceptance of Palestine as an Observer State by the UN, the main Palestinian factions have united and declared Palestine’s Independence War on Israel. Is this credible? Will Palestine declare independence on May 14, 2013?

New Uprising

The video at the left was filmed the day before and shows violence in Hebron. Palestinian police officers are seen clashing with Hamas supporters during a rally in Hebron which marked the group’s 25th anniversary. The demonstrators marched from the city hall toward an Israeli checkpoint while the Palestinian officers attempted to disperse them. The demonstrators threw stones at them, and a number of them were detained. Due to resolution issues it is difficult to say for sure, but several Israeli soldiers may have participated in the event.

This may look like a contradiction to the claims made in the video above, but it is not so. It has been five years since Hamas supporters were allowed to gather in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority police was just making sure they would not reach the IDF checkpoint. Hence, the video supports the claim that a new coalition had been achieved.

Since November, there has been an increase in West Bank protests. According to the IDF, 130 attacks were launched from the West Bank in that month; most of them were defined as “difficult to contain.” AMAN, Israel’s military intelligence, reports a sharp increase in alerts suggesting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. Moreover, Palestinian Authority police stopped arresting Hamas operatives in the West Bank, and they are allowed to act freely. The Shin Beth released reports claiming that the West Bank is ripe for a third Intifada. Thus, at least the message in the video above is credible.

False Trigger

The IDF is fighting an outdated war. One of its generals, who refused to be identified by name, said on the same day to Yedioth Aharonot, Israel’s largest newspaper, “There are two scenarios that may indicate the future: The reopening of Hamas’ da’wah [charity] institutions in the West Bank and the complete suspension of arrests of Hamas operatives.” He added that the trigger for a third Intifada may end up being Jewish terror, such as “Price Tag” acts or clashes between Palestinians and settlers. One of the saddest things in this world is an old general trying to repeat a war from his youth; this unnamed general did just that.

The First Intifada was formally triggered on December 8, 1987. Two days before that, an Israeli salesman had been stabbed to death in Gaza; denizens suspected a retaliation from Israel. Then, an IDF tank transporter ran into a group of Palestinians from Jabalya Refugee Camp in Gaza. It killed four and injured seven, creating what looked like a retaliation. Subsequent violent protests became the Intifada. Yet, the ground had been burning for months; in despair, the IDF sent training units to the Occupied Territories since the beginning of that year. Years later, in September 2000, the Palestinian unrest was of a similar magnitude. The Second Intifada began on September 28, 2000, when Ariel Sharon, Likud candidate for Israeli Prime Minister, entered the Temple Mount accompanied by over 1,000 security guards. He said, “the Temple Mount is in our hands and will remain in our hands. It is the holiest site in Judaism and it is the right of every Jew to visit the Temple Mount.” By the end of 2012, the IDF is betting on a third variant of the theme. Yet, recent Palestinian actions show that a similar scenario is unlikely to happen.

Phase is Everything in Life

“Phase is everything in life,” a physicist friend told me once, and I found it impossible to refute his claim. Anybody thinking that the Palestinians will follow in 2013 the same patterns as they did in 1987 and 2000 is at least out of phase with our world and probably out of touch with reality. As analyzed in May 14, 2013, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has proved that he possesses a sharp historical perspective by concentrating his efforts on the recognition of Palestine as an Observer State on the anniversary of the historic 1947 vote on UN Resolution 181, better known as the UN Partition Plan of Palestine. He outsmarted Israel, which concentrated its efforts on the annulment of the resolution, instead of attempting to change its symbolic date. This was the act of a mature statesman who realized that the negotiations had entered a dead end alley. He is unlikely to surrender to settlers or IDF provocations and has a clear goal: complete independence. For historical reasons, his best choice would be May 14, 2013. Hence, the IDF’s published scenario is unlikely. The date the violent phase of the struggle will begin on is not related to Israeli actions.

Regardless of the name used by the media, the Third Intifada has not begun. What we are seeing is a Palestinian national, coordinated effort to achieve independence. The video on the top of this page announces the soon to begin Palestinian War of Independence. Are you ready, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz?

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I’d say that the Palestinian issue and even Gaza weighs upon the Muslim’s ability to ALLOW non-Muslims their spaces and respect the whole gamut of non-Muslim entertainments. Throughout this blog, there are instances of why Muslims should not be allowed to dominate the world. Muslims are incapable of governing diversity or understanding Voltarian freedoms such as accepting LGBT, gambling, alcohol, adult industry to list a few examples. Gaza (inequitable by location – no country can be in two parts in this manner – best that a land swop or ceding of the Gaza territory by Palestine occurs . . . ) and Palestine will NEVER be free until perhaps for a start the Islamist leaning government in malaysia ALLOWS all the above listed HUMAN RIGHTS the appropriate spaces and legal recognition and enforcement protections in a manner suitable and dignifying of the groups mentioned. This is why Palestine does not ‘deserve’ to exist, this is why Israel has a right to persecute Muslims, simply by the persecution applied by Muslims on non-Muslims elsewhere in the world .

There can be no protection or rights for Palestine so long as in places like Malaysia there are no rights granted on the above issues and more so when Palestine keeps firing rockets at Israel.

Even ‘Malay’ (half-Malay) exiles running away from Malaysia’s political fascism hate on LGBTs as well. RPK is a Malay writer who flip-flops but generally hates LGBT . . Impossible to teach some people(s) . . . so how can islam ‘civilise’ and abide by rights of access and expression on so many other ‘Haram Rights’ issues for non-Muslims?

ARTICLE 2

Yemen Times interview with Russian Ambassador Vladimir Trofimov: – “I don’t believe that Yemen will ever fall apart, and my government position is to support Yemen’s unity.” (Report).

“I will be happy to answer all your questions,” said the Russian Federation’s Ambassador to Yemen Vladimir Trofimov when we met him for an interview. He candidly opened his hands, “When it comes to Yemeni and Russian relations, we have no secrets.” Trofimov had been ambassador in Yemen for two and half years and is likely to continue for another one and half. Before that, he had been working for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 35 years, 22 of which were spent Arab countries.

He graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1974 and in 1986 graduated from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has a Masters degree in History and speaks German, English, French and Arabic. He is married with one son who also works or the Foreign Service, specialized in Chinese affairs.

Nadia Al-Sakkaf interviewed Trofimov about Russia, Yemen and international affairs.

Every year, the Russian Federation provides Yemen with 80 Bachelor degree scholarships in many fields in addition to 45 scholarships for military degrees. A Yemeni-Russian Friendship Association recommends candidates for 20 of the general scholarships, while the remaining are decided on by the Ministry of Education.

Russia has investments in energy as it involved in the establishment of the Marib Power Plant, although it is keen on expanding to other fields when opportunity is available.

There are representatives of many large Russian industrial companies in Yemen and they are involved in energy and medical work, among other fields.

In the last few years, Russia canceled USD 5.5 billion of Yemen’s debts it the Russian Federation. And while Yemen still owes USD 1.2 billion, there is no pressure to return this amount as Yemen continues to pay an annual interest rate around no more than USD 20 million a year.

To Yemen, the Russian federation is not a donor country as such. However, it does help Yemen in facilitating agreements and supports Yemen’s development through expertise and discounted deals for equipment, arms, medicines and so forth.

Russians in Yemen

Formally, 500 Russians, mostly doctors and nurses, are registered with the embassy and have official state contracts. Yet the total Russian community in Yemen by far exceeds this number. Trofimov estimates that there are around 3,500 Russians living in Yemen, mainly in the medical field while others working in geological exploration among other disciplines.

Over the years, there have not been serious complaints raised by Russians living in Yemen and the general impression is that Russians feel safe across the country. They work in Sana’a, Aden, Taiz, Hadramout and Hodeidah. The embassy does not instruct its citizens where to go and where not to, as they have been evidently wise in their movement and work in Yemen.

“Even we at the embassy don’t believe that we need extra security measures despite the tragic incident of kidnapping and murdering foreigners in Sa’ada,” he said. “Thanks to the Yemeni government, security around the embassy is good enough.”

Security cooperation

Russia and Yemen signed a security cooperation agreement in 1998 and since then the two countries have exchanged expertise and Russia has supported Yemen with intelligence and military training, besides the 24 military scholarships every year.

During Saleh’s visit to Moscow this February, the two countries agreed on cooperation in combating terrorism and piracy. As a follow up, a specialized Russian delegation will be visiting Yemen in November this year to take the agreement further. There is talk of a joint Yemeni-Russian anti-terrorism and anti-piracy committee.

President Saleh also signed a deal to buy arms from Russia during his February visit. This is not the first time that Yemen buys weapons from Russia, who provides Yemen with discounted prices.

“We know Yemen is not a very rich country, so we do what we can to support Yemen’s sovernity and internal security, which is very important to us,” he said.

Yemen’s instability

“Our relations with Yemen are friendly and strong,” he said. “Our position is to firmly support Yemen’s unity and integrity.”

But Russia does not interfere in Yemen’s internal affairs like other countries do, Trofimov stressed. It trusts that the current president was elected by the people through a democratic process, and hence it is not fair to meddle into local affairs.

However, he believes that the instability in Yemen should not be over-dramatized. Another country with the amount of arms available in Yemen would have already been blown to pieces. Yemenis are therefore patient and calm people and are wise at handling their internal affairs.

The demonstrations in the south are economically based, and were triggered by some foreign and local political interests that do not represent all the Yemeni people.

“I don’t believe that Yemen will ever fall apart, and my government position is to support Yemen’s unity,” he said.

International affairs

Russia intends to hold a Middle East Peace Conference in the coming months. Its interest in the region’s stability is not new, as it has played a role as a mediator among many conflicting parties of the region.

“We don’t call it the Middle East,” he said. “We call it the Near East because it is near to us. And naturally we are concerned with its stability and want to ensure peace in the region. We have no problem talking to anyone in the process of making peace.”

Hamas has always been a controversial file between Russia and the United States among other western countries. Although there are currently around one and half million Russian Jews in Israel, Russia’s friendly position towards Hamas, Fatah and Iran has been made clear on more than one occasion.

“Mish’al had been invited to Russia twice before and we are inviting him again to visit some time soon,” he explained. “We must not ignore the fact that his government was a legitimate one elected by the Palestinian people. If we don’t consider Israel who keeps killing dozens of Palestinians every day a terrorist state, why should we consider Hamas a terrorist organization?”

“Our policy is to have fair relations with all sides, so that we can play a balanced role in the region in order to maintain peace,” he concluded.

Similarly, Russia’s relations with eastern countries are also maintained on friendly levels. Russia has annual USD 30 billion trade agreements with China and strong relations with India, notably commercial ones, as well as with other Asian countries.

Whether the new US administration means different US policy in the Middle East region is yet to be seen. However, Trofimov does find the Obama administration has a warmer attitude towards Russia compared to the Bush administration which was rather “confrontational.”…

The decapitated bodies of a judge, his wife and son were found at their home in one of the biggest Ukrainian cities of Kharkov on Saturday, police said. The killers also targeted the son’s partner, her body being mutilated in the same way.

­Victims of the graphic murder were discovered at the apartment of Vladimir Trofimov, 58, a judge of the city district court.

“The murder took place in the morning, four bodies are decapitated,” police said.

“We do not exclude Trofimov’s professional activity as a motive which led to the crime. But we are also looking into other possible reasons,” Kharkhov District police chief, Viktor Kozitsky remarked.

Local media report that police registered an emergency call at around 13:00 pm (11:00 GMT). The caller told them that he had found mutilated bodies of his four relatives including Trofimov himself, his wife, 59, their son in his 30s and the son’s girlfriend, 29. The murder occurred on the day that Ukrainian court workers celebrate their professional holiday. Kharkov is Ukraine’s second-largest city located in the country’s east. It was one of four Ukrainian cities to host the UEFA’s major football tournament Euro 2012.

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Silenced by the Arabs IN Russia (beheading seems to indicate)? Or silenced by the Russians themselves (in Arab style so that a war can be declared by Russia against Arabs . . . maybe high time so long as Islamists cannot abide by protection and granting of spaces and freedoms for non-Muslim entertainments) for being a double agent for Arabs in Yemen? Scary to get involved with these sorts . . . Gulag! Or conversion! Bad choices all, though extreme-Capitalism is no better . . .

Yemeni military court sentenced 93 members of the Republican Guard to prison terms from three to seven years for an attempt to break into the Defense Ministry building in August.

The elite Republican Guard is led by Brigadier General Ahmed Saleh, son of the former President Ali Abdullah Saleh who resigned from power in February after more than a year of protests, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

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Postulation : Looks like North Korea informing/selling info with that new satellite? Satellites could be BRAIN SCANNERS . . . Memories do not fade Russia, but Kim should know that blackmailing of Russia for WW2 incursions quietly in the background, will be more useful to Kim in the long run than exposing Russia to Islamists directly. As for the necessity due to Russian treachery or the regain national pride of WW2 atrocities, that could wait until the Islamists have pledged to protect and ensure non-Muslim lifestyles.

There is a ‘morality’ ‘key’ on satellite technology that can only be operated by certain types of Egregore/Subconsciousneses born from certain types of persons or those of sufficient strength among a nation’s citizentry. Should the Egregore or or Subconsciousneses assent to operate the Satellite via contract with the owner, the ALIENS waiting outside the Earth’s orbit are ready to communicate with the owner of the satellite via the subconscious or egregore.

The above series of events INCLUDING the mass shooting of 26+1 in Newport (http://www.cnbc.com/id/100321171), and Hillary’s ‘timely’ (if not contrived) illness and concussion circa 16th December 2012 could be a sort of warning or brain transplant, or soul exchange occuring.

As for Kim, the isolation was so severe that if the ALIEN theory is true, then NK communications would be as important to describe the nature of humanity than be suppressed as in the current form. ALIENS may not fully understand human emotions and societies and having only met a handful of satellites, might be misled to think every other human was not good or needed to be suppressed. NK’s satellite was piloted by the ‘14th Dec 2012 Egregore‘ and reached space where ALIENS learnt the nature of isolation and reputational sabotage by human nation against human nation.

The other method of piercing the atmosphere is via psychic broadcasting, where a psychic broadcasts upwards into the atmosphere (this can be intercepted or conducted away) but such signals are of interest to ALIENS being biological in nature, and are viewed equally as valid expressions of humanity as the satellite. ALIENS as of now may be on a fact collecting mission, and having discovered the abuses of certain human segments of society are on a ‘cleanup’ mission. Internet and mobile phone incidentally have been entirely infiltrated and are being loaded by aliens who study the emotions, if not neurotech scientists . . . the psychoatric establishment also attempts to shut off communications by heavily drugging psychics able to pierce the atmosphere, this is effetive partially when localized and with opponent psychics focusing against.

Any refutes and discussions to/against the (most admitedly viewed as outlandish) above post is welcome.

Nicky was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when she was 29
The condition makes her muscles tighten, leaving her unable to move
Nicky now poses as a frozen Marilyn Monroe for two hours at a time to raise money for charity

A Parkinson’s sufferer whose muscles stiffen as a result of the disease has turned her condition into an art-form – by becoming a human statue.

Mother-of-four Nicky Pywell was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when she was just 29 forcing her to give up her career as a gardener.

The neurological condition means that without medication Nicky’s muscles and joints contract and tighten – and she is unable to move.

Nicky during her Marilyn Monroe performance

Good cause: Nicky decided to harness her muscle rigidity for charity by posing as a living statue for money

Undeterred, courageous Nicky decided not to let the debilitating disease get in her way and used her newly found talent to pose as a living statue.

She now raises money for charity by doing a Marilyn Monroe impersonation in her home town of Coalville, Leicester, for two hours at a time.

The street-artist now makes up to £400-a-time for Parkinson’s UK with her popular performances.

The 35-year-old said: ‘I become a living statue for two-and-a-half hours. I get stiff, all my muscles get rigid and I’m unable to move if I don’t have my medication.

Toddler enjoys first family Christmas at home after having ELEVEN tumours removed from all over her body
One loving family and a lethal divide: Sam, 25, and dying of a brain tumour insists faith healing can cure him. His cancer-consultant father is desperate for him to trust doctors

‘It was the idea of being stiff that led to being a statue. I do take little breaks but every time I am out on the platform I don’t move.

‘I raised about £390 the first time. That was taken from sponsorships beforehand as well as people giving me some on the day.

‘I gave an envelope to everyone I met that week telling them about myself and what I was doing.

‘I love Marilyn Monroe – she was a good actress and beautiful and glamorous. I find it really fun, I enjoy it and people say I look like her.’

Ms Pywell first sought her GP’s advice after she thought she had pulled a muscle while using a hedge trimmer nine years ago.
Nicky used to be a gardener but had to give up her job when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s

Nicky used to be a gardener but had to give up her job when she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s

As time went on her left arm began to shake and drag but it took another three years and four neurologists to diagnose Nicky because doctors thought she was too young to suffer from Parkinson’s.

She added: ‘I was working as a self taught and self-employed gardener which I loved.

‘This particular day I was using a hedge trimmer and I thought I had just pulled a muscle. My left arm felt stiff.

‘I went to a walk in clinic and they gave me anti-inflammatory medicine, but it didn’t go away.

‘Then my left arm began to shake, and my left leg began to drag so much that it affected my driving.

‘Over the next three years I saw three or four different neurologists. None of them thought it could be Parkinson’s because I was so young.

‘Eventually my new GP sent me to a different neurologist at Leicester General Hospital. They admitted me to the ward, and Parkinson’s was finally diagnosed.

‘The medication they put me on worked very quickly and I was able to walk out of hospital.

‘I felt that things were finally getting under control, with the help of my Parkinson’s nurse.

‘Giving up my gardening career was one of the hardest things for me. Now, I’m taking each day as it comes.

‘People aren’t aware that I’ve got it unless I tell them and you get funny looks from people who make assumptions.

‘It’s much more likely that people think you’re drunk or taking drugs. For me to accept I’ve got Parkinson’s it was easier for me if I told the world rather than tell people one by one. It’s something I’ve learned to live with and not to be ashamed of.’

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Actually the psychic or astral imprinting issue is a viable problem to be considered with people with illnesses displaying themselves as role models. The best would be for warning to accompany with the ‘statue busker’ that has an illness (which spoils the work), or to have people in perfect health AND a family history free of disease that do not need warnings. That way, HEALTHINESS can be psychically imprinted upon the passers by rather than ‘wiping off’ of illness (if even intended or possible being in such a poor state of health) on the casual onlooker. Subconsciously those less wary or unaware may end up psychically ‘imitating’ Parkinsons disease while out of ignorance due to attraction for Marilyn Monroe and hence there must be some forethought and caution on the part of the audience as well even as the worker puts themselves out on a limb as well.

Some of the people who are knowledgeable about this may not practice or are coordinated well in actual practice, conversely those who practice well (a large majority I would say), do not know how to communicate this being unschooled in occult language. Then there are those fractured by the psychiatric establishment for being too strong or too aware, but thats another neurotech tagged article on this blog for those who care to browse . . .

President Barack Obama wipes a tear as he speaks about the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, …An emotional President Barack Obama vowed on Friday to “take meaningful action, regardless of the politics,” to prevent future tragedies like the shooting massacre Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

“Our hearts are broken today,” Obama said in a brief statement at the White House briefing room, frequently pausing to wipe tears from his eyes. “The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of 5 and 10 years old. They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children fulfill their dreams.”

Obama expressed sorrow for the victims’ loved ones and sympathy for the parents of the children who survived but who know that “their children’s innocence has been torn away from them too early.”

“As a country we have been through this too many times,” Obama said, listing a series of mass shootings over the past few years in places like Aurora, Colo.

“These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods, and these children are our children. And we’re going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics,” he stressed.

Earlier, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters that “today’s not the day” to talk about possible new gun control steps meant to prevent such tragedies in the future.

Obama ordered flags over government facilities to be flown at half-staff until sunset on Dec. 18. Shortly after he spoke, Connecticut State Police said the death toll included 20 children, six adults and the shooter.

Obama learned of the rampage at 10:30 a.m. from Homeland Security adviser John Brennan. He later discussed it by telephone with FBI Director Robert Mueller and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy.

Obama’s reference to acting “regardless of the politics” seemed likely to be a reference to deep opposition in Congress to new gun control legislation.

“Today’s not … a day to engage in the usual Washington policy debates,” Carney told reporters. “That day will come, but today’s not that day.” Carney said renewing a federal assault weapons ban “does remain a commitment” of the president. The ban expired in 2004, and Obama has taken no serious steps to renew it on Capitol Hill.

Carney declined to answer repeated questions on when would be an appropriate time for lawmakers in Washington to discuss possible actions to prevent future tragedies. “Our minds and our focus need to be on what’s happening there and providing assistance where we can to those who need it,” he said, urging “enormous sympathy for the families that are affected.”

One reporter pointed to Obama’s remarks in July just days after a shooting spree that left 12 dead and about 60 injured at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.

“I hope that over the next several days, next several weeks and next several months, we all reflect on how we can do something about some of the senseless violence that ends up marring this country,” Obama said at the time.

Obama has made similar comments before, including at a January 2011 memorial for the victims of a mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., in which then-Rep. Gabby Giffords was grievously wounded.

“We have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future,” Obama said. “But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot do.”

Republican House Speaker John Boehner likewise ordered the Stars and Stripes lowered over the Capitol.

“The horror of this day seems so unbearable, but we will lock arms and unite as citizens, for that is how Americans rise above unspeakable evil,” Boehner said in a written statement. “Let us all come together in God’s grace to pray for the families of the victims, that they may find some comfort and peace amid such suffering.

“Let us give thanks for all those who helped get people to safety, and take heart from their example. The House of Representatives—like every American—stands ready to assist the people of Newtown, Connecticut,” Boehner said.

A country where every geezer or child is armed to the teeth is impossible to invade. Think Afghanistan where the kids casually carry around missile launchers or where an assault rifle is giiven as a coming of manhood gift. The above pic is of Russian origin. Does USA understand that people kill people and not guns kill people? Screening for psychos (psychiatrists kill with medications ALL THE TIME, so ban psychiatric meds . . . ) is the main issue.

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Absolute power absolutely corrupts.

Suggest that ALL owners of PRIVATE temples and churches be implanted with neurotech. Also all neurosurgeons who are able to implant neurotech and sellers of neurotech be implanted with neurotech as well. ALL private hospital committee chairs (or anyone with the authority to authorize bonuses), and ALL public listed company chairs serving more than 2 terms also required to be implanted with neurotech. ALL psychiatrists with the authority to implant neurotech be implanted with neurotech so that audits of all individuals possibly overseen by WHO can be done to see that abuse of political opponents and activists be prevented. Coroners who might have access to the dead and ‘used’ neurotech should also be implanted as well. The security people working at cushy jobs in nuke or dangerous weapon stockpiles also should be considered, to prevent bribery by unfriendly forces.

ALL neurotech implants should be registered with WHO and INTERPOL and deactivatable from WHO and INTERPOL to prevent abuse. ALL cabinet ministers related to security or neurotech based surveillance should be implanted with neurotech as well. ALL top police persons with access to neurotech devices be implanted with neurotech so that the NEUTRAL MEMBERS of public (i.e. no relatives, no neighbours, no people from the same establishment or work place) can do audits.

All neurotech implants NOT registered will be considered illegal. This way even banks and major companies leaking secrets and funds to unfriendly (not necessarily Muslet companies, but given the ‘War on terror’ the most infiltrations should likely be Muslet friendly ‘Whites’ of multifaith households or multifaith ‘toting’, yet Islamist leaning countries like Malaysia or some parts of Europe).

ARTICLE 5

New Russian motto: Legalize prostitution – collect taxes – 07.12.2012

The situation on the Russian market of sex services may soon dramatically change. Prostitutes will not be cheaper, and the moral climate in the society will not get better. Instead of vulnerability before the officials and clients, prostitutes would have “safety certificates” and those enjoying their bodies would have confidence that they are not dealing with a hotbed of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. A conference to discuss the initiative on the development of a law on legalization of prostitution was held in Moscow under the motto “legalize prostitution – collect taxes”. The idea was supported by a State Duma deputy from the party “United Russia” Joseph Kobzon.

The initiative on legalization of prostitution and the conference was originated by the fund “Morality Police.” The document of the organization, called a draft federal law “On state regulation and control of sexual services” suggested calling prostitutes “individual entrepreneurs engaged in providing sexual services,” and their clients – “consumers of sexual services.” The authors of the bill proposed to consider underground prostitution only sexual activities meant to obtain “income in the form of money or other material benefits.” The bill addresses the relationship between “entrepreneurs” and “consumers” as well as tax and other government agencies.

Duma deputy Joseph Kobzon supported the idea of ??the bill with reservations. He noted that the bill was just an excuse to start a great debate, perhaps even a referendum. “As soon as the State Duma starts drafting a law on prostitution, it will immediately raise the question of the need of its approval in the second reading by the government and presidential administration. Once the government feels that this law has a financial component, […] that there will be a need to allocate money from the budget to combat prostitution, it will be voted down,” said Kobzon. According to him, the money will be needed first of all for the maintenance of the new police unit – morality police.

Speaking after Kobzon, spokeswoman of the informal union of sex workers “Silver Rose” Oksana Yartseva noted that taxes that are rampant in prostitution “settle in the pockets of corruption.”

De facto prostitution flourishes in Russia, and the existing laws are obsolete. In the current Russian legislation Article 6.11 in the Code of Administrative Offences provides for a fine for prostitution between 1,500 and 2,000 rubles. There are two articles of the Criminal Code against pimps and keepers of brothels. They are “Involvement in prostitution” (up to a maximum of eight years in prison) and “Organization of prostitution” (ten years).

The conference overlooked the fact that talking about prostitutes we normally think of women, and thinking of customers we think of men only, which is not quite true. Everyone knows about the existence of male prostitution – and not just for the gay.

Sociologist Olga Kryshtanovskaya was among the most prominent opponents of legalization of prostitution at the conference. She did not like the fact that “it can be done by any girl who graduated from high school.” The opponents of this bill have two main arguments. The law on the legalization of prostitution is contrary to the traditional moral values ??and would lead to a greater spread of this vicious phenomenon. Ms. Kryshtanovskaya who specializes in the study of elites also mentioned sex tourism: “Would we face a huge influx of migrant sex tourists who will be coming along with their male migrant workers? How will it impact our demographic situation?”

In contrast to the arguments of morality and increasing number of prostitutes, the rhetorical question of Olga Kryshtanovskaya is very pertinent. The first oldest profession safely existed from time immemorial and, apparently, in one form or another will exist as long as the human race exists. As for Christianity, according to Jesus, individual prostitutes have a chance to enter the kingdom of heaven before priests and the elders. The spread of prostitution, as noted by Joseph Kobzon, is affected by social problems.

As long as Russia stays a poor country, the officials should think hard before legalizing prostitution. Otherwise, Russia can turn into semblance of Thailand that has become the center of world sex tourism. Russia should also look at the experience of Germany. Prostitution in Germany is legal in Protestant lands and prohibited in Catholic Bavaria. However, the ban does not lead to the destruction of brothels but, rather, drives them underground.

Igor Bukker

Pravda.Ru

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Igor? We all know that the regime establishment, chauvinists and militant feminists thrive off the sexual frustration of either gender. Prostitution if legalized will remove this element of psychic abuse from society and even prevent abuse especially FROM the hetero religious establishment fundos. The officials have been thinking ‘hard’, but Igor has been thinking ‘soft’. If Russia turns into the semblance of Thailand, one can only see the downfall of Capitalism as Socialism takes control when business goes to Russia. The economic vibrancy (we all know that places where the most entertainment occur is also where the biggest deals get done) of a Thailand-like Russia would dominate the world. Why would Igor not want that? Fifth columnist fronting for Capitalism? Igor is an ‘Igor’ for the Frankenstein of USA’s extreme-Capitalists (much like Islamists) . . .

European kindergartens and schools may ban children’s books and fairy tales that depict the traditional family. This is a request of the European Parliament Committee on Women’s Rights. According to the committee, fairy tales should talk about sexual diversity. Norwegian experts believe that children benefit from watching porn.

The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality prepared a report that calls for a ban of all books that show the traditional family where the father is the breadwinner and the mother takes care of the children in schools and day care centers of Europe. According to the authors, these books are bad for the future life of children, especially girls, and promote wrong behavioral patterns. In the future, it may prevent them from building a career.

Feminists are concerned that children from an early age are constantly faced with “negative gender stereotypes” in television shows and commercials. The word “negative” in the report is synonymous with the word “traditional”. Over time, the ban would be extended to television and advertising. So far it was decided to start with books.

The authors of the report strongly recommend urgent legislative measures in the field of children’s literature. In particular, they suggest introducing a policy of “equality of all social sectors.” An example of alternative children’s literature is a book “King and King” with kissing men on the cover. According to the report, this would help children to learn about the “true sexual diversity of society.”

In fact, such measures have already been taken in some countries, particularly in Scandinavian ones that consider themselves the vanguard of Western democracy. “Pravda.Ru” once reported about a Swedish toy manufacturer that issued a catalog before Christmas where girls were pictured shooting imaginary enemies with laser guns, and boys were depicted playing with dolls.

This was a requirement of the Swedish advertising regulator who accused the toy manufacturer of sexism and imposition of negative gender stereotypes. Norwegian kindergartens in 2010 introduced a program of compulsory sex education focusing on sexual minorities.

The report of the European Parliament also insisted that “homosexuality should be taught in kindergarten as a form of experience and knowledge.” According to them, this will expand the concept of “gender identity” for children. “Sexual diversity should be obvious to children. Children need to know that this is normal when your parents are gay or lesbian.”

For some reason, not all parents are willing to believe that this is “normal.” In Norway Muslim community strongly opposed such education in kindergartens. They threatened to withdraw their children from such institutions or create an alternative.

For the “dark” parents who are not aware of the latest trends in sex education in modern society, Norway’s largest newspaper VG Nett recently published an opinion of psychologists and sex therapists who said that it was beneficial for children to watch porn on the internet.

“Parents should not be afraid of their children’s sexuality. Conversely, from a health perspective it is beneficial to watch porn at a time when parents and children talk openly about these issues,” said psychologist and sex researcher Andres Lindskog.

He was commenting on a statement recently issued by an expert from the organization Save the Children, who expressed concern about the fact that increasingly more children and teenagers were addicted to watching pornographic sites on the Internet.

Anders Lindskog is convinced that there is no addiction or harm from this. “It’s important for parents to understand that children are born with sexuality and follow their biology. Children have the same feelings as adults,” said the expert.

After that, should we be surprised that the number of cases of pedophilia is growing in Norway? They mostly occur within the family. A few days ago, newspapers wrote about another such case. A couple, a husband and wife, subjected their three children under 10 years of age to violence and sexual perversions for years.

The children confirmed the violence to the police. But that does not mean that the punishment will be sufficiently severe. In Norway, pedophilia is considered a disease and is listed in the Medical Register. For this reason, pedophiles are given short sentences – from several months to several years. In some cases punishment could be limited to penalty only. In the end, parents can always say that they practiced “diversity of sexual relations.”

Svetlana Smetanina

Pravda.Ru

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Since brain scanning neurotech use is rampant, the issue of abuse and consent as well as TRUE (non-contrived) experimentation among children and conscientious NON-ABUSIVE AND NON-PREDATORY AND NON-EXPLOITATIVE adults that are not a form of uncontrolled incest, should be considered as part of the law making process. There should be no ‘top-secret’ preventions in the expositions of technology and application to the populace any more to prevent abuse and Orwellian dictatorships, hidden or not.

As for feminists or chauvinists, these groups should be allowed to exist as well and educate in the form they would prefer (i.e. disallowing fairytales) BUT may only ‘recruit or induct’ from children who have been determined to have NATURAL PROPENSITY OR GRAVITATION BY A NEUTRAL PANEL and consensually chose the subculture . . . *NOT* even children of arbitrarily feminists or chauvinists by nature should be forced into this sub-culture.

That would mean that Feminists and Chauvinists would continue to exist as a social group, but only be based around affirmation of the type of person, which a child MUST independently decide, and choose from A LIST OF ALL VARIANTS OF SUBCULTURES which must be part of early education. Meanwhile parents back home must be taught to not *forcibly inculpate* ANY values so that the child may grow up independently to decide what they want, NOT what the parents want. Invariably, the traditional family would doubtless survive as well – PROVIDED the issue of land and wealth distribution is resolved and do not from lack of distribution cause poverty to influence the child’s decision and choice as well.

Warren Buffett, the investor famous for betting on aging industries like railroads and insurance, is now trying to pull off something other billionaires have tried and failed to do: save the newspaper business.

His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has spent more than $342 million on 80 newspapers — including its hometown paper, the Omaha World-Herald — and used them to build a new business unit. And Buffett isn’t done. Though the division announced plans to close an underperforming newspaper in Virginia last month, he’s said that more acquisitions may be in store.

Terry Kroeger, the newly installed chief of Buffett’s newspaper empire, runs the operation from a 15th-floor office overlooking the expanse of wide streets that make up Omaha, Neb. The goal, Kroeger says, is to reintroduce newspapers to what they do best: delivering urgent, local information that readers can’t get elsewhere — and coaxing people into paying for it. He’s also creating offshoot websites with corporate sponsors and branching out into Internet video.

“We’ve got to evolve with what people are looking for, and I think our industry has done kind of a crappy job with that,” Kroeger, 50, said in an interview.

Kroeger, who started working at the World-Herald 27 years ago, once kept a pair of sneakers under his desk to mow the lawn whenever the grass around the office building got unsightly. Just like in those early days, it’s essential to charge readers for the reporting that journalists provide, he said. The World- Herald erected a so-called pay wall last year, and Kroeger aims to roll out the same approach across his other newspapers.

“You can’t spend millions of dollars assembling something and then give it away,” he said, endorsing a strategy adopted by the New York Times, News Corp.’s Wall Street Journal and most of Gannett Co.’s papers.

The World-Herald, Buffett’s flagship paper, will see its revenue decline this year as circulation shrinks, Kroeger said. It generates about $100 million annually and remains profitable, said Kroeger, who declined to elaborate on its finances.

Buffett’s acquisition of 63 newspapers from Media General earlier this year accounts for most of the newspaper unit. Based on Media General statements, those newspapers generated $299.6 million last year, a 50 percent decline from 2006.

Kroeger said that Buffett’s total newspaper division is in the black and should remain so, despite the shrinking revenue.

“We’re profitable this year,” he said. “I have a high degree of confidence we will remain profitable next year as well. We’re very high on the industry.”

The paywall has helped support revenue, though the program is still in the early stages, he said. The World-Herald’s circulation, meanwhile, has continued to shrink. It fell 3.2 percent in weekday readership to 130,932 from a year earlier, according to the most recent data from the Alliance for Audited Media. The Sunday edition dropped 2.9 percent to 165,397.

Even if the paywall draws help boost subscriptions, the move is more of a palliative than a cure, Kroeger said.

“We have to get into new businesses,” he said.

One such venture, already under way, aggregates health-care articles from the World-Herald and other Berkshire-owned Nebraska newspapers into a website sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. The site, which is freely available to readers, has advertising in addition to the sponsorship.

The risk is that sponsorships jeopardize a newspaper’s objectivity, especially when it comes to medical information, said Todd Gitlin, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Kroeger said the arrangement with Blue Cross doesn’t affect the content.

The broader question is whether newspapers can evolve quickly enough to revive a decaying business. They’re confronting shrinking demand for print advertising, declining circulation, and encroachment from Internet companies such as Google and Facebook. The industry’s ad dollars dropped 6.6 percent in the first six months of 2012 from a year earlier, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

While community papers have an edge over publications in crowded media markets, no one has found a way out of the slump, said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell in Burlingame, Calif.

“There’s no silver bullet,” he said. Newspapers in many places had enjoyed a near-monopoly pricing on print advertising, Doctor said. “That’s not coming back — for anybody.”

Kroeger said last month the company will shutter the Virginia-based Manassas News & Messenger, one of Buffett’s most recent acquisitions, and cut 105 jobs in the process. The newspaper faced too much direct competition from other papers in the area, which includes Washington, and was continuing to lose money, Kroeger said in the World-Herald.

“We didn’t see any way to really turn it back into a profitable enterprise, reliably, so what made the most sense was to just cease publication,” he said.

Other billionaires have tried and failed to turn around the newspaper business. Tribune Co., the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, filed for bankruptcy in 2008, one year after a buyout led by real-estate magnate Sam Zell.

Buffett’s gamble is less ambitious. His recent spending spree on newspapers amounted to less than two-tenths of 1 percent of Berkshire’s total market value.

He also may have more success than others, said Don Graham, chairman and chief executive officer of The Washington Post Co. Part of Berkshire’s strategy is focusing on smaller market papers that don’t have to compete with other media, Graham said.

“When you get larger, you get challenged by more forms of media competition for advertising delivery,” he said last week at an investor conference. “Anybody who really focuses on the newspaper business should be studying one company this year: Berkshire Hathaway.”

At Buffett’s Omaha paper, Kroeger is investing in high- definition video equipment, with an eye toward doing an online sports show featuring its reporters. That’s something major market newspapers such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have tried. Unlike those national publications, though, Buffett’s newspapers embrace a simple tenet: All news is local.

“The community aspect of what we do is so important,” Kroeger said. “Obituaries, for example, are huge. You want to find out how big a deal that is? Misspell somebody’s name in an obituary — once. You’ll never do it again. These things matter to people.”

Kroeger’s first job at the paper was as an assistant purchasing agent. He negotiated for newsprint costs from vendors and made sure the company’s trucks had enough gas to make their deliveries every day.

“I was pretty low on the food chain,” he said. “It’s where I learned about the nuts and bolts of the business.”

Buffett is a longtime investor in newspapers, though never at this scale in the past. Buffett’s interest in the industry had been mostly limited to a stake in the Washington Post and the 1977 purchase of the Buffalo News, which is run separately from Kroeger’s operations. Its publisher, Stan Lipsey, reports directly to Buffett. Berkshire also owns a stake in Gannett, the publisher of USA Today.

Buffett is the second-richest American, after Microsoft’s Bill Gates, with an estimated worth of $46.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s made him one of the highest-profile backers of print journalism.

“I’ve loved newspapers all my life — and always will,” Buffett wrote in a letter to employees of his newspapers earlier this year, before going on to say that he will probably buy more papers over the next few years. Buffett’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Kroeger declined to discuss the company’s future takeover targets. Other newspaper businesses focused on smaller markets include McClatchy Co., a publisher of 30 daily newspapers such as the Sacramento Bee, and E.W. Scripps Co., which operates 15 newspapers from Cincinnati. Tribune Co.’s newspapers also will be put up for sale as the company emerges from bankruptcy later this month, people familiar with the matter said this week.

Buffett, born in Omaha, has been a loyal subscriber to the World-Herald for most of his adult life and understands the challenges the paper faces, Kroeger said.

“He knows it’s not going to be easy turning things around,” Kroeger said. “He gets what we do here and he’s been incredibly helpful, generous with his time, offering advice when he can.”

Still, Buffett doesn’t influence news coverage, said Mike Reilly, the World-Herald’s executive editor. And there’s been no shift in how the paper covers him, he said. For years, the paper has run a weekly column on the billionaire called “Warren Watch,” something that continues under Buffett’s ownership.

“There hasn’t been any change in how I run the newsroom,” Reilly said. “We used to cover the heck out of him and we still cover the heck out of him.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Starting from articles on the net, the number of hits should decide WHICH articles get published on solid paper. The hits online determine how much a person gets paid for an article (this should be capped at a limit of minimum wage per SERIOUS article or if the – we can’t have people getting millions at the company’s expense for A SINGLE ARTICLE), THEN the article gets published BECAUSE of many hits. This way articles that people do not read are left out, and the 99% decide what gets published instead of the editors who are doubtless controlled by the political regime of the day. For non-serious articles or trivia like music launches, celebs or fashion the rate should be at 5% of minimum wage per article, as we do know that a single journalist can churn out dozens a week and these automatically get ‘hits’ because of the shallow masses or tired minds looking for something simple. Various articles of similar types could appear all at once, so the top 20 top hits of the same article perhaps could be edited AND the ‘minimum wage purse’ be shared among journalists who independently found the article on their own (reposters not counted). As for comments, the ‘average annual wage’ purse could be shared for the top 10% of comments so that feedback is also included. Newspapers should not pontificate but also include comments as well.

ARTICLE 8

Susan Rice withdraws from running for secretary of state – live coverage – guardian.co.uk, Thursday 13 December 2012 23.11 GMT

Susan Rice

UN ambassador tells Obama ‘I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly’

As news of Rice’s withdrawal broke, the president entered a meeting with House Speaker John Boehner on how the two sides might come to a fiscal cliff compromise.

If the president caved on Rice, does that mean he’s in a cave-y mood generally?

The deputy chief of staff for the speaker’s office, David Schnittger, says the meeting has concluded, but he isn’t saying what happened.

The @whitehouse #fiscalcliff meeting between @speakerboehner and President Obama has concluded.
— David Schnittger (@OhSchnitt) December 13, 2012

11.11pm GMT

Slate’s Dave Weigel calls it. That guy’s good.

I just hope McCain makes a rare Sunday show appearance to discuss this news.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) December 13, 2012

Potential defense secretary Chuck Hagel, a former colleague of John Kerry’s on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and like Kerry a Vietnam vet, is not regarded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to be an especially faithful friend to Israel, Eli Lake reports in the Daily Beast (Aipac never takes formal positions on nominees):

A senior pro-Israel advocate in Washington told The Daily Beast on Thursday, “The pro-Israel community will view the nomination of Senator Chuck Hagel in an extremely negative light. His record is unique in its animus towards Israel.”

Josh Block, a former spokesman for AIPAC and the CEO and president of the Israel Project, told The Daily Beast, “While in the Senate, Hagel voted against designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization, refused to call on the E.U. to designate Hezbollah a terrorist group, and consistently voted against sanctions on Iran for their illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. It is a matter of fact that his record on these issues puts him well outside the mainstream Democratic and Republican consensus.”

11.02pm GMT
Kerry: ‘we should all be grateful’ for Rice’s service

Ewen MacAskill sends John Kerry’s statement on the withdrawal of Susan Rice:

I’ve known and worked closely with Susan Rice not just at the UN, but in my own campaign for President. I’ve defended her publicly and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again because I know her character and I know her commitment. She’s an extraordinarily capable and dedicated public servant. Today’s announcement doesn’t change any of that. We should all be grateful that she will continue to serve and contribute at the highest level. As someone who has weathered my share of political attacks and understands on a personal level just how difficult politics can be, I’ve felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks, but I also know that she will continue to serve with great passion and distinction.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 to discuss a disabilities treaty. Kerry did not want to respond to questions from reporters about recent talk that Kerry is a top candidate to replace Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012 to discuss a disabilities treaty.
10.57pm GMT

Let’s hope Kerry recovers from his conflicted feelings about Rice’s political troubles in time to put a cheerful face on it should he be nominated to take the job that was supposed to be hers.

“I’ve felt for her throughout these last difficult weeks.” — John Kerry on Susan Rice. — The Fix (@TheFix) December 13, 2012

Heh.

If Kerry as Sec’y of State is half as effective against Iran’s mullahs as he was against Susan Rice, I’m for him — Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) December 13, 2012 10.43pm GMT

Updated at 10.47pm GMT

Who, apart from Sen. John McCain, is most pleased by today’s news? There’s reason to speculate that outgoing Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown might not be taking it so badly.

Brown is expected to be a front-runner to fill Kerry’s senate seat if Kerry gets the state nod. Here’s ABC’s Elizabeth Hartfield:

…with Rice out of the running, Kerry is “all but certain” to get the nomination, according to ABC’s Jake Tapper. That means a vacant seat and a special election, which could benefit out-going Sen. Scott Brown, who lost his bid for reelection to Elizabeth Warren in November. […] Brown’s victory in a special election would not be a sure thing. Although he leaves office with high approval ratings- exit polls from the 2012 election showed him with a favor-ability rating of 60 percent- but Massachusetts is a solidly Democratic state, and there are many Democrats in elected office in the state who could challenge Brown. 10.37pm GMT

The uproar over Rice’s statements on Benghazi was fueled by a desperate attempt to score points during the presidential campaign, as Tom Ricks so bluntly explained on Fox News. Then Obama was reelected and the continued campaign against Rice began to look especially unhinged.

Consider Iowa Rep. Steve King, who today said the Benghazi scandal is 10 times bigger than the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals combined, the Washington Times reported (h/t: @batterdippin):

“(Watergate) was a break-in that Nixon had no knowledge of at the time. It became about the cover-up,” King said. “Iran-Contra, again, as far as the real depths of what went wrong and who violated what laws, we didn’t really get that identified in there. … This is a case where we had an ambassador who was assassinated. He and the others were victims of a plot and a plan. We were willfully and intentionally misinformed by the White House. You know, if Richard Nixon tried to cover up Watergate, that’s an easy case to make that the Obama administration didn’t want us to know what has gone on. We still don’t know.”

This kind of circus wackiness, among other factors, made the case against Rice look weak. It looked like something a newly empowered president could bulldoze through. In late November, John Heilemann in New York Magazine went so far as to list five reasons why a Rice confirmation was a done deal:

As a rule, your columnist avoids predictions, but in the spirit of holiday indulgence, I will make an exception here: Not only will Obama appoint Rice to succeed Clinton but she will be confirmed.

Here’s Heilemann’s fourth reason:

4. Because McCain is being a jackass—and Obama is sick of it. Arguably more than any other national figure, the senior senator from Arizona is driven in every aspect of his public behavior by personal pique. In the wake of the 2000 Republican nomination fight, when he believed Bush and his campaign had defeated him by nefarious means, McCain lunged to the center and became one of the sharpest thorns in the side of the new president from his own party. In the wake of the 2008 election, when he was soundly thumped by a Democratic challenger whom he regarded as a neophyte and a pretender whose experience and valor were no match for his own, McCain immediately shed all traces of mavericky independence and became one of Obama’s fiercest critics from the right. […]

Apparently Obama wasn’t so sick of it. 10.27pm GMT

Updated at 10.30pm GMT

FILE – DECEMBER 13: Susan Rice has withdrawn her name from the running for Secretary of State. NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 30: Susan E. Rice, ambassador and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), attends a UN Security Council meeting regarding the on-going situation in Syria on August 30, 2012 in New York City. UN Security Council negotiations regarding the situation in Syria collapsed last month. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images) Continuity Horizontal Syria USA New York City Meeting Politics Ambassador UN Security Council United Nations Blocked Terms Diplomacy Attending Permanent Representative Susan Rice Situation Susan E. Rice, ambassador and U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), attends a UN Security Council meeting regarding the on-going situation in Syria on August 30, 2012 in New York City.
10.13pm GMT

TPM’s Igor Bobic has a longer excerpt from Rice’s interview with Brian Williams to air tonight. Rice says that she didn’t want to see a disruptive confirmation process:

Today I made the decision that it was the best thing for our country, for the American people that I not continue to be considered by the president for secretary of state because I didn’t want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting, and very disruptive because there are so many things we need to get done as a country, and the first several months of a second-term president’s agenda is really the opportunity to get the crucial things done. We’re talking about comprehensive immigration reform, balanced deficit reduction, job creation, that’s what matters, and to the extent that my nomination could have delayed or distracted or deflected or maybe even some of these priorities impossible to achieve, I didn’t want that and I’d much prefer to continue doing what I’m doing, which is a job I love at the United Nations. 10.11pm GMT

The GOP, Michelle Obama and favors to repay

Guardian Washington bureau chief Ewen MacAskill observes that the president was in a tight spot over the secretary of state nomination – but now he is not:

The Republicans might have done Obama a favour. The president was under pressure from two of the women in his life, wife Michelle and adviser Valerie Jarrett, to give the job to their friend Rice rather than to Kerry. Obama owes Kerry, having used him repeatedly as an envoy to help with sensitive issues such as relations with the Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai. Kerry was also the Mitt Romney stand-in during presidential debate practice. Rice had the necessary diplomatic credentials. She has been right about more issues than she has been wrong, being an early champion of the West taking a tougher line on the Darfur issue. But when she has failed, she has failed badly. She was responsible for African affairs in the Clinton administration, and critics – fairly or unfairly – blame her for doing little to prevent the rapid disintegration of the Congo, a conflict that is estimated to have cost at least two million lives.

On a small scale, she was humiliated a fortnight ago when the UN general assembly voted in favour of a step towards Palestinian statehood. Showing none of the humility such a defeat deserved, she put her head down in the assembly to read out a defiant statement that would have pleased few outside of Israel. Kerry, chairman of the Senate foreign affairs committee, has much wider experience in the diplomatic world, and knows already many of the world leaders. Rice’s departure from the field will be greeted with relief in foreign ministries round the world who have been on the receiving end of her rough tongue: that is, most of them. For the same reason, her continuation as UN ambassador will be greeted with groans at other UN missions. 10.06pm GMT

How spontaneous is the Rice news? She’s already taped an entire interview with NBC News’ Brian Williams, a snippet of which just aired.

Rice said that the president’s second term would see “an attempt to get the crucial things done… [and] to the extent that my nomination could have delayed or distracted [from these priorities]… I didn’t want that.”

She told Williams she’ll stay on as UN ambassador.

It’s gracious boilerplate for withdrawing nominees.

was #Susan Rice pushed or did she jump? — Barbara Slavin (@barbaraslavin1) December 13, 2012

9.59pm GMT
The rise and fall of the next secretary of state

At what point did the president decide the fight over Rice wasn’t worth it?

Obama was still fully behind his potential nominee when she made her trip to the Capitol Hill woodshed at the end of November, meeting with Sens. McCain, Lindsey Graham, (R-SC), Kelly Ayotte, (R-NH) and others.

“The concerns I have are greater today than they were before, we’re not even close to having the answers,” said Graham at a joint press conference following the meeting. “The American people got bad information on Sept. 16, bad information from the president after that, and the question is, should they have been given any information at all?”

Republicans accused Rice of misleading Congress and the public about what happened in Benghazi in the Sept. 11 attack that killed Amb. J. Christopher Stevens, a computer technician and two security contractors employed by the CIA.

The Obama administration, led publicly by Rice, initially made the attack on a US mission out to be part of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islam video that had provoked such a protest that day in Cairo and elsewhere.

Later it emerged that there was no protest, that the attack was planned and that the mission was attached to a covert CIA post.

Five days after the attack, Rice made this misleading statement on NBC’s Meet the Press:

What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video. Opportunistic extremist elements came to the consulate as this was unfolding. They came with heavy weapons, which unfortunately are readily available in post-revolutionary Libya, and it escalated into a much more violent episode. In the face of GOP criticism, the president said Rice was simply passing on the best information the intelligence community had at the time.

“If Senator McCain and Senator Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me,” Obama said. “And I’m happy to have that discussion with them. But for them to go after the U.N. ambassador, who had nothing to do with Benghazi and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous.”

Instead Republicans decided to continue to go after Rice, a lead adviser on the president’s first campaign.

Rice was not just another adviser; aides of both have told me Obama considered her someone he had a strong kinship with. — Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) December 13, 2012

She was one of first national security wonks to join his camp in 2007 and played a big role suggesting Obama was experienced enough. — Perry Bacon Jr. (@perrybaconjr) December 13, 2012 9.55pm GMT

The Guardian’s Chris McGreal notes that criticism of Rice went beyond her performance after the Benghazi attack:

Although Republican ire focused on Rice’s role in the aftermath of the Benghazi attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, she faced strong criticism from other quarters over her backing of African despots and her unflinching support of Israel. Hours before Rice withdrew from the race, Robert Wexler, a six-term former congressman who now heads a pro-Israel think tank in Washington, said of her that “Israel has no greater champion in the current administration than Susan Rice”. That’s a view shared by some of her critics who say she has gone beyond the call of duty in projecting US policy on Israel to became a passionate defender of the Jewish state despite Binyamin Netanyahu’s policies, calling criticism at the UN “anti-Israel crap”. Rice went to lengths to woo the biggest of the pro-Israel lobby groups, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Rice has also come under strong criticism over her positions on Africa, most recently for trying to suppress a UN report strongly critical of the Rwandan government’s arming and other support for rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rice was a national security official in Bill Clinton’s White House who played a part in the US’s failure to act against the 1994 genocide of Rwanda’s Tutsis. Since then she has been an unswerving supporter of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, who as a Tutsi rebel leader put a stop to the genocide even in the face of a growing body of evidence his forces are bound up with years of war crimes in Congo. Rice has also come under criticism for supporting other authoritarian leaders in Africa. In September she delivered a eulogy for the late prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, calling him “brilliant” and a “a true friend to me”. Meles had a long track record of bloody suppression of democracy. 9.39pm GMT

“I will do everything in my power to block [Rice] from being the United States secretary of state. She has proven that she either doesn’t understand or she is not willing to accept evidence on its face. There is no doubt five days later what this attack was and for” – Sen. John McCain on Fox News, Nov. 14, 2012

US Senator John McCain, speaks during the 8th Manama Dialogue security conference in Manama, Bahrain, 08 December 2012. The 8th Manama Dialogue organized by the London based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) which will run until 9 December 2012 will focus predominantly on Syria and broad regional security issues. EPA/MAZEN MAHDI US Senator John McCain, speaks during the 8th Manama Dialogue security conference in Manama, Bahrain, 08 December 2012.

McCain reaches for the brandy and mutters to himself, “It’s a great day for America.” Fade out. — David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 13, 2012 9.35pm GMT

To many seasoned observers it looks like the president has just lost a high-profile fight with Republicans over a potential nominee he has very publicly defended, indeed is personally linked to.

BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith is reminded of the bloody Cabinet fights of Obama’s first term, when he had to nominate three commerce secretaries, including Bill Richardson, before he got one through, and when former Sen. Tom Daschle failed as a health secretary nominee. A bit of a repeat of very early term 1, esp on national security: Obama, bloodied up a little by the Hill, shows weakness. — Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) December 13, 2012 9.29pm GMT

Hagel thought to be front-runner for defense slot

Rice’s withdrawal isn’t the only action in cabinet shuffling this afternoon. Earlier today Bloomberg News reported that former Sen. Chuck Hagel had the completed the vetting process to be the secretary of defense nominee. The report describes Hagel as “the leading candidate to become Obama’s next Secretary of Defense.”

Another senator, John Kerry, also had been mentioned as a potential defense pick, perhaps as a consolation prize were he to be denied the job he really wants, secretary of state, which was thought to be occupied by Susan Rice.

Now Rice is out at state. And Hagel may be in at defense. Which for John Kerry could mean victory.

Here’s the Bloomberg report:

Hagel, who served as an enlisted Army infantryman in Vietnam, has passed the vetting process at the White House Counsel’s office, said one of the people. The former Nebraska senator has told associates that he is awaiting final word from the president, said the other person. Both requested anonymity to discuss personnel matters. Other contenders are Michele Flournoy, former defense undersecretary for policy, and Ashton Carter, deputy defense secretary, administration officials have said. Obama invited Hagel to the White House on Dec. 4 to discuss the position with him, according to an administration official. The president hasn’t made a final decision, said another official. Both asked for anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney today declined to comment on whether Obama is considering Hagel, saying only that the two-term former lawmaker was widely respected. – 9.22pm GMT

Rice’s letter withdrawing her name

Here’s Rice’s letter to the president withdrawing from consideration as US secretary of state. “The position of secretary of state should never be politicized,” she says. Ambassador Susan Rice’s letter to President Obama (h/t: @thematthewkeys and @katierogers) 9.16pm GMT

The Guardian’s Ewen MacAskill sends President Obama’s full response on the Rice announcement. The president said he spoke with Rice today:

Today, I spoke to Ambassador Susan Rice, and accepted her decision to remove her name from consideration for Secretary of State. For two decades, Susan has proven to be an extraordinarily capable, patriotic, and passionate public servant. As my Ambassador to the United Nations, she plays an indispensable role in advancing America’s interests. Already, she has secured international support for sanctions against Iran and North Korea, worked to protect the people of Libya, helped achieve an independent South Sudan, stood up for Israel’s security and legitimacy, and served as an advocate for UN reform and the human rights of all people. I am grateful that Susan will continue to serve as our Ambassador at the United Nations and a key member of my cabinet and national security team, carrying her work forward on all of these and other issues. I have every confidence that Susan has limitless capability to serve our country now and in the years to come, and know that I will continue to rely on her as an advisor and friend. While I deeply regret the unfair and misleading attacks on Susan Rice in recent weeks, her decision demonstrates the strength of her character, and an admirable commitment to rise above the politics of the moment to put our national interests first. The American people can be proud to have a public servant of her caliber and character representing our country. 9.13pm GMT

Obama ‘deeply regrets the unfair and misleading attack’ on Rice CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller gets the response from President Obama, who says he “deeply regrets the unfair and misleading attack” on Rice, but her decision “demonstrates the strength of her character & an admirable commitment to rise above politics.” In written statement, Pres Obama says he “deeply regrets the unfair and misleading attack” on Susan Rice, — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) December 13, 2012

In his first press conference after his reelection, the president struck a note of unusual perturbance in responding to Republican attacks on Rice.

“[Rice] has done exemplary work,” he said. “She has represented the United States… with skill and professionalism and toughness and grace. … and if Sen. McCain and Sen. Graham and others want to go after somebody, they should go after me.” 9.11pm GMT

Rice out of the running for secretary of state

UN ambassador Susan Rice has withdrawn her name from consideration for secretary of state, NBC News has reported. A potential nomination for Rice, who for months was perceived to be the president’s top pick, has been the object of fierce opposition from Republicans, who accuse her of misconduct following the September attack on Benghazi.

“If nominated, I am now convinced that the confirmation process would be lengthy, disruptive and costly – to you and to our most pressing national and international priorities,” Rice wrote in a letter to President Obama obtained by NBC. “That trade-off is simply not worth it to our country … Therefore, I respectfully request that you no longer consider my candidacy at this time.”

We’ll be live-blogging developments. 9.04pm GMT

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Good honourable and ethical move by Rice. Rice has decided to ditch crony politics by sacrificing an opportunity that destroys democracy. Frankly ‘friends’ or seat holders in other places should not be ‘re-given’ posts. This should be something a panel should vote on and willing volunteers from a talent pool should sign on for for their 15 minutes of fame.

More than any other politician in America, her candidacy would change the contours of the next election.

Every Democrat with ambitions to succeed President Obama wants to know the answer to one question: Is Hillary Clinton going to run? If so, many will decide against doing so themselves. Who wants to square off against an opponent who’ll have a better fundraising operation, a better resume, and a spouse who happens to be America’s best surrogate? At the moment when the first black president is preparing to leave the White House, who will want to run against someone with a more than viable chance of becoming the first woman president?

“She seems like Democrats’ best bet, perhaps by some margin, to extend their winning streak to three or more terms in the White House,” Nate Silver notes. “If she ran even a point or two stronger than a ‘generic’ Democrat, the odds would shift meaningfully in her favor, holding other circumstances equal.”

But say Clinton doesn’t run. That changes everything, doesn’t it? Any Democratic primary without her would be dubbed “wide open.” Joe Biden may try to succeed his boss either way. But he is eminently beatable, as every aspiring alternative knows. He wouldn’t scare anyone away.

I won’t speculate about whether she’ll run. We’ll know in time. I’ll just say that it matters now that we don’t know, insofar as the uncertainty itself affects present behavior among certain Democrats.

I’d prefer it if Hillary Clinton stayed out of future races. My instinct is that she’d abuse executive power and civil liberties every bit as much as the man who appointed her to be secretary of state, especially now that he has acclimated the left to transgressing against transparency and the rule of law. What I can’t deny to Democrats is the likelihood that her foreign policy experience would permit her to retain her party’s edge on those issues, especially if she ran against someone as inexperienced as Marco Rubio, whose foreign-policy chops are hard to take seriously.

Grizzled feels more reassuring than boyish, does it not?

That isn’t to say she’d be a lock in the general election. About the only prediction I’m willing to make about Election 2016 is that Hillary Clinton would be a strong candidate barring a scandal.

But “likeable enough” to win?

What I’ll be most interested to see, if she does run, is how the conservative movement reacts to her candidacy. With relative sanity, insofar as they can’t very well accuse her of being a Kenyan anti-colonialist? With a return to the anti-Clintonian fervor of the 1990s? I suspect the latter reaction wouldn’t play well. Politicians who hang around long enough seem to become inured even to scandals in which they were actually caught red-handed. There isn’t anything so clear cut in Clinton’s past, and if many Americans are like me, the word “Whitewater” would send an involuntary shudder of dread coursing through the population, as if we were collectively told we’d have to re-watch the pre-trial motions from the O.J. Simpson trial while sequestered in a cheap hotel with nothing for diversion but Clinton-era back issues of The American Spectator.

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Can see the family blocs in 3rd world countries ready to jump on this opportunity to justify nepotism . . . do the right thing USA. Political culture is bad enough as is. Then the impossibly timely occurance below :

First stomach virus THEN concussion after ‘accepting’ the run for Presidency? (After Bill then Hillary, what next? Clinton’s children for President as well? Might as well run and declare USA a monarchy . . . no hate there but the 3rd world really cannot do with any justifications for nepotism arising from USA of all places! The Presidency of the United States and even so many high official posts should never be a hand down post, if a seat has been held by a family member, no way should the seat be allowed to another from the Clintons – the friends and cronies issue of seat/post hand downs are already bad enough, don’t start a trend . . . ) False flag or a warning by greater forces or even a warning by USA to 3rd world countries in the form of a false flag? Anything to put a stop to nepotism which destroys democracy and leads to dictatorship.

ARTICLE 10

Charlie Gonzalez’s Departure from Congress Marks End to Political Dynasty – Published December 17, 2012 – Fox News Latino

Charlie Gonzalez

San Antonio, Tex. – The retirement from Congress of Rep. Charlie Gonzalez is ending a half-century streak during which his father, then he, served in Congress, representing their San Antonio district.

The outgoing chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus served 14 years after replacing his famous father, Henry B. Gonzalez, who carved out a lasting legacy as a political reformer and civil rights leader.

Charlie Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat, is returning to private life after deciding to not seek an eighth term. Taking his seat is Joaquin Castro, whose family packs its own celebrity pedigree: His twin brother is San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, a rising star on the national stage who was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention this year.

Charlie Gonzalez told the San Antonio Express-News that he’s leaving with a “sense of sadness.”

“It’s a job, but it’s an incredible job. The people, the surroundings, nothing compares to it,” Gonzalez said. “It is bittersweet. That is the best way to describe it.”

Charlie Gonzalez was first elected in 1988. His father served for 37 years and was chairman of the House Banking Committee, which wielded power over financial institutions and was instrumental in pushing reforms. The elder Gonzalez used that clout to push for public housing and programs for the homeless.

Larry Hufford, a political science professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, said the elder Gonzalez pursued social justice in a time when it wasn’t fashionable. Charlie Gonzalez represented a 20th congressional district that, by the end of this last term, covered impoverished barrios on the city’s West side as well as middle-class and affluent neighborhoods to the north.

When it came to national issue, Charlie Gonzalez used his status Hispanic Caucus chairman to push for immigration reform.

“Charlie was able to carry on that legacy with a much different style; more low-keyed but very effective,” Hufford said.

Charlie Gonzalez dismissed suggestions that he could wind up being an appointee in President Barack Obama’s second term or be elected to a statewide office. A Democrat hasn’t been elected statewide in Texas since 1994.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Gonzalez’s decision to leave Congress marks the “end of an era.”

“To decide on my own when to leave Congress, that wasn’t a decision wasted on me,” Charlie Gonzalez said. “I’m a blessed individual. Rather than having circumstances imposed on my life, I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my life. It is my encore career.”

This is based on a story by The Associated Press.

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Rare example of ethics. there is nothing beneficial personally for Gonzalez in quitting, but every such quit makes Democracy stronger and makes nepotism and oligarchy weaker. THIS should be the criteria for state awards or monuments than anything else. There is no end to wealth and power, and once enough politicians focus their value system on higher values away from the greed or power-madness fog, the super-pac, too big to fail, and plutocrat/corporate lobbyist and eventually the economy issues, will be easier to fathom and deal with. This is a form of ethics, as preventing nepotism is as dangerous as corruption in politics.

Tanis Baker, 21, dressed as a ninja to ‘strike fear in the hearts of criminals
He was arrested after officers who spotted him became concerned
He was soon surrounded by armed police, dogs and a helicopter
Two hidden rucksacks containing smokebombs and costumes found after arrest

Comic book fan: Tanis Baker told police he was a vigilante in a ninja costume after police arrested him while armed with a homemade wooden Samurai sword

A would-be vigilante was arrested by armed police after he dressed up as a ninja and armed himself with a wooden Samurai sword.

Mystery man-in-black Tanis Baker, 21, wanted to ‘strike fear’ in the hearts of criminals in his neighbourhood just like his comic book idols.

But a court heard Baker ended up on the wrong side of the law after dressing up in ninja-style black body armour and a mask.

He armed himself with smoke bombs and a home-made wooden Samurai sword then crouched in the darkness in a park ready to pounce on any troublemakers.

But a police officer saw Baker in the shadows – and he called for back-up because of his concerns over the mystery figure.

Within minutes he was surrounded by armed officers, police dogs and a helicopter hovering overhead above Beechwood Park in Newport, South Wales.

He was arrested and officers found two hidden rucksacks containing seven smoke bombs and other vigilante costumes.

Magistrates at Cwmbran, South Wales, heard he told police he was a ‘vigilante in a costume’ and that he wanted to help people in trouble.

He claimed to be the ‘eyes and ears’ of the police on the streets and wanted to strike fear into criminals.

The probation officer who assessed him said Baker was a fan of American comic book superheroes.

His probation report said: ‘He seems to get confused between fantasy and reality and sometimes had trouble distinguishing between what was in comic books and what was real life.’

The court heard that in real life Baker is no superhero but works as a barman in a snooker club in Newport, South Wales.

Hi-ya! Mr Tanis said he dressed up as a ninja to ‘strike fear’ in the hearts of criminals in Newport (picture posed by model)

Louise Warren, defending, said: ‘Baker was bullied for many years and struggled growing up in his neighbourhood.

‘He was attacked by a gang of youths while out with his sister a year ago, but police were unable to find the offenders.

‘Since then Baker has wanted to help the police to protect society.’

The court heard Baker was asked what he would do if he encountered a real crime and said he had not thought that far ahead.

Superhero: How Baker might have looked when he was arrested while dressed as a vigilante ninja

He was given a 12-month supervision order and ordered to carry out 60 hours unpaid work.

Chairman of the magistrates Paul Lavin, said: ‘You may have thought you were helping but you caused a lot of trouble.

‘Do not do this in future or else you’ll be in big trouble.’

Baker, of Cwmbran, South Wales, admitted having an offensive weapon in a public place.

He declined to comment after the case.

Storm in a teacup as The Ninja of Newport has to meet the authorities somehow when he makes his introduction but now he could supply them with a trusty Ninjaphone to ring him in their hour of need to save the day and help restore law and order showing the baddies there’s a new guy in town and his name is THE NINJA OF NEWPORT!!! *plays national anthem*

– Stuart , Edinburgh Scotland, United Kingdom, 13/12/2012 18:34

We need more vigilantes on the street, but we criminalise them instead. Take Phoenix jones of Seattle, he and his friends do a great job, lawfully and prevent crimes, as well as assisting law officers.

– Illuminati cards , Bunker, 13/12/2012 18:49

What part was illegal ? Smoke bombs aren’t illegal, they are let off at paintballing sites, and wooden sticks aren’t illegal unless something new has happened, that makes drumming against the law.

– mileage , Barry, 13/12/2012 18:49

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Look here anyone is allowed to cosplay a ninja or favourite super hero (or Otaku genre!) character. Orwell has taken over Newport. More ‘ninjas’ or cosplayers should lurk ‘ in the shadows ‘, SPECIFICALLY to see what the local enforcement does. Good work Tanis! Now we all know that Newport is not a free sort of place. A really free minded place would give a verbal warning or even co-opt the ‘ninja’ as an eccentric member of the neighbourhood watch who refused to work with the formal watch. More cosplayers! And know that permission for carrying actual weapons can be obtained and if registered should not be an offence.

But a wooden sword? Thats not even a weapon. A really long carving knife is more dangerous than a wooden sword and is legal to carry around. A handgun is more dangerous than the above and still is legal. Lurking might be addressed with a simple request. And the reasons given are only to protect society! What gives Newport? More cosplayers and lurkers EVERYWHERE! How about openly walking around with masks, costumes and ‘lurking’ in corners for the rest of the week Newporters! I’m surprised Tanis did not challenge the judgment. Where’s that US culture of freedom and vigilante-ism? For the conservative types, try Cowboys and Indians with camping knives, whips and 6 shooters for a start . . . set up camp in a ‘lurky’ area EVERYDAY in shifts. See what the local enforcement does . . . we’ll know where Orwell LURKS instead – then set up a map of ‘people friendly’ and ‘people unfriendly’ places, the 99% will know how to vote or which laws to amend . . .

House Speaker John Boehner has made a decision that will make some wealthy Americans squeal, while making most Americans smile.

Boehner, after weeks of rhetoric that Republicans and Democrats were miles apart on fiscal cliff talks, relented on a stance that high earners shouldn’t see higher taxes. Now, Boehner has agreed to raise taxes on Americans making more than $1 million, reversing an earlier position that all Bush Era tax cuts should stand.

The move by Boehner is particularly significant for several reasons. First, it’s a gesture toward compromise— Democrats wanted taxes raised on Americans making more than $250,000, while Republicans, at first, would have none of it—and suggests the two sides may finally become serious about averting the fiscal cliff. Next, the tax hikes would increase federal coffers by some $1 trillion over 10 years; President Obama has demanded $1.4 trillion in new revenue, but at least the pols’ figures are growing closer. And Boehener’s decision is a refreshing signal that, when confronted with dire forecasts—like the one that predicts a recession to start 2013 if the fiscal cliff happens—Washington, D.C can put aside partisinism and past promises. Though, I imagine that Grover Norsquist takes little glee from Boehner’s shift.

Republicans are the first to sacrifice a sacred cow. Now, Democrats must too. What mostly impedes progress? Some $200 billion. That’s the difference between the spending cuts in federal health care programs that Republicans want ($600 billion) and Democrats want ($400 billion).

Investors will probably take this move by the pols as evidence that a deal will eventually come. We haven’t piled out of stocks quite like you might think. Indeed, the major benchmarks this month have gained about 4%. There hasn’t been that complete flight to safety—into the cash-generative arms of Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and Walt Disney—and away from risk—fleeing the speculation around a Research In Motion comeback or better times for Alpha Natural.

Still, the cliff today looks less like a chasm than it did just a few days earlier.

Reach Abram Brown at abrown@forbes.com.

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Squeal? What they earn in a year is an entire lifetimes 401K or many times more than 401K which the 99% takes decades to earn, these wealthy Americans are just SPOILT. Boehner did good, and if the wealthy Americans are too squealy, they are welcome to move to a favourite country of their choice – as mentioned before all assets a country has are land and resource divided by number of citizens not useless fiat. the US A will be happy to have 1 citizen less and more to share among those who stay.

ARTICLE 12.5

French wealthy ‘feel victimised by tax’ – by Hugh Schofield – 10 December 2012 Last updated at 15:02 GMT Help

Actor Gerard Depardieu has become the latest wealthy person to flee France’s 75% tax on those earning over 1m euros a year.

The star has bought a house over the border in the Belgian village of Nechin.

France’s richest man, Bernard Arnault has already applied for Belgian citizenship and thousands of other wealthy French people are making the move.

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The ‘wealthiest’ will NEVER pay enough because in 1 year they earn 10 lifetimes what most ‘wealthiest’ Frenchmen earn in decades EVEN AFTER TAX. No place for Marie Antoinettes here . . . and 75% tax is not enough because they can hold assets up to 75,000% of what the ordinary french person has with the very wealthiest earning 7500% of what the 99% does EVEN AFTER TAX. 75% of 100 million of the less ecxeptional wealthiest is still 25 million in earnings, 75% of 10 million is 2.5 million in earnings which is easily 10 times what the 99% earn in a lifetime . . . Victimised?

Some Frenchmen can’t even buy French bread or have a French roof! That money goes to social services not banquets for the French officials I hope, otherwise time to storm the Bastille again . . . 75% tax is farcical considering the above facts.

The issue of child prostitution and its supposed alter-ego, adult prostitution, are personal to me because I’ve experienced both, having been prostituted between the ages of fifteen and twenty-two.

I sometimes think of what those who knew nothing of me would have thought of me, as they caught glimpses of me, on the different stages of those seven years. Who doubts that the majority would have looked at my young teenaged self and wondered what sort of world we lived in? And who doubts, if they’re honest, that many would have looked at my young adult self and wondered what sort of women populated it?

This is the dichotomy of adult and child and they are viewed as very separate, very distinct, so that there is a clearly perceived line between these stages, these ages, but in fact it is not a line. It is a bridge. It is a bridge that spans the in-between; that gap that connects the points in the lives of so many women who were prostituted first as children then as adults. I lived that bridge in my own prostitution life, when I was turning from a child into a woman, and I was used sexually for money on most of the days that made up my adolescence, as I was before in childhood and afterwards in early adulthood. And here is the crux of the matter: it was all the same nightmare to me.

People chose though, before and after those in-between years, whether I was blameless or blameworthy. In the interim, while I existed in the in-between, each individual who looked at me or fucked me had the privilege of making up their own mind. Many did, and most chose the latter.

After that, when I was identifiably a woman, it was not a case of ‘most’ anymore, but ‘almost all’ – because almost all those who looked at me in my young adulthood decided that I’d chosen what was happening, and saw it as what I was doing rather than what was being done to me.

The ‘done to me’ aspect died, you see, along with my adolescence in the perspectives of other people. The problem was it didn’t die, and I was still alive, living the ‘done to me’ reality every day.

As a fourteen-year-old girl, a full year before I ever started prostituting, I first realised that some men felt an actual entitlement to my body. This was perfectly expressed by the extreme belligerence they’d display when I rejected their advances. They would be so angry. ‘How dare you?’ said their actions. I couldn’t make any sense of that attitude. It was literally like someone was speaking in a foreign language to me, and it was a foreign language in a sense; it was the language of sexual entitlement. I became fluent in the language eventually, but fluent in the sense of someone speaking a language not of their origin; someone who can understand it audibly, but will never be able to write it.

At that time though, I couldn’t imagine how anyone could think it was okay to walk up to someone on the street and wrap your arms around them, or grope somebody, or growl what you’d like to do to them into their ear. But I had all these experiences as a fourteen-year-old girl and I’d had three approaches by paedophiles as a pre-pubescent child, and still I could not fathom why and how this was supposed to be acceptable in the view of these men, why this was supposed to be okay. I remember one man’s surprise and affront as he told me “You’re very standoffish!” after I pulled away from a physical embrace I didn’t initiate, ask for, permit or fucking want.

These experiences came thick and fast from the age of fourteen, when I began to be more noticeably developing breasts. It is little wonder I became fluent in the language of male sexual entitlement. Facial expressions, aggressive stances, weary sighs, protracted silences – all these too make up part of that language, all these are used to communicate the idea that you’re expected to consent when a man decides he will have rights to your body.

So I’d had some schooling, in that sense, as to what prostitution expected of me. What I didn’t know was how bad it was going to get. I couldn’t have known that before I experienced it. It was unknowable. Well, I soon found out, and what I found out didn’t get any better on the day I turned eighteen and it didn’t get any better on the day I turned twenty-one either.

They bother me, these stupid irrelevant lines that are drawn that attempt to divide the lived reality of the prostitution experience based on whether a female is fifteen or seventeen, seventeen or nineteen, eighteen or twenty. They are diversions to the central matter at hand; they divert from the core issue. They disappear the fact that this is wrong, not only by degrees that deepen with the youthfulness of its target, but by its nature, so that all those who’ve been paid for sex they do not want have suffered sexual abuse. There is a shelf-life for women in prostitution, but there is no shelf-life for the nature of prostitution. Its abusive core does not morph into something else on a person’s eighteenth birthday. Not that many men wait that long in the first place.

And on that note, people need to start querying what is the criterion for fuckability according to sex-buying men? What is their divining rod for ‘of age’? Is it a pair of breasts? My experience of prostitution is that it is any pair of breasts, regardless that they’re still developing; and this we’ve got to see as a form of sexual selfishness that has decayed to the point where it’s putrid. It is also a nonsense of a position, because if a pair of breasts at any stage of development signify completed womanhood then every females adulthood actually began at the onset of puberty; not began to form, but began in full. Every woman was a woman before she was a woman, by that ludicrous standard.

I am sure we will have a lot of indignation from sex buyers on this point, but as a fifteen-year-old child with developing breasts I was abused by a multitude of these men every day; men, some of whom would never have considered themselves paedophiles or predators or abusers – and I saw the same men pay to use the bodies of other adolescents with breasts, one of them just thirteen years old, so I can assure the reader that these men assured themselves wherever there was the presence of breasts there was the absence of childhood.

Added to this, men who buy sex are obsessed with the act of despoilment; they are, as a group, blatantly obsessed with the desire to fuck the youngest girl they can find. The upshot of this of course is that there is great commercial value placed on youth in prostitution. I have thought at length and written a little about Prostitution and the Commercial Value of Youth, and I know both that this exists as a reality in prostitution and that is speaks with great clarity to the putrid sexual selfishness I’ve just mentioned.

So adolescents are fair game in prostitution; I’ve made my point, but it’s important also to look at an uncanny resemblance here: adolescence is the physical reality, the mirror image made flesh and form, of that place where a woman is halfway between being prostituted and being trafficked. That point where women go to other countries knowing they’ll be working in the sex trade, but not knowing what that reality really means, or not knowing that they’ll be charged four and five figure sums for the privilege of their prostitutions organisation. This is another of prostitutions in-betweens. They exist in various forms, and very often these mid-spectrum situations are misrepresented and then misappropriated so that they can be used to gloss over the reality of the sex trade. For example those women who are working back thousands of euros/dollars/pounds of money they supposedly ‘owe’ are not classified as trafficking victims, although that is what they are. The sex industry calls them ‘independent escorts’ and ignores and erases the misery of their lives.

In the same way, people who live prostitution during the transition between childhood and adulthood must be mislabelled and filed away, inconvenient as they are. They must be either a child or an adult according to the sex industry, and also, disturbingly, to some anti-trafficking groups. Some groups decide to find a way around this by subdividing adolescence into stages where those from twelve to fourteen are deemed worthy of sympathy and attention, while fifteen to seventeen-year-olds are brushed to one side with the gut-churning excuse that they have so much more ‘personal agency’.

When, I would like to ask the senior members of these groups, did my personal agency begin? Because by their criterion it seems to me it began at the stroke of midnight as I entered my fifteenth year, which makes me feel like a very sorry version of Cinderella; except the slipper in this fairytale was never going to fit because it had been shattered, and believe me, Prince Charming was nowhere to be seen. I had no more personal agency at fifteen than I had the year before, in fact I had significantly less, because at fourteen I had only six months of homelessness behind me; at fifteen I had a year and a half. In homelessness your desperation increases with time, not decreases. If people think ‘personal agency’ always increases with the forward march of time they are lucky people who’ve never had to deal with the miserable conditions of their own lives intensifying with time, and they’re obviously so detached from that life experience they’ve never even considered it.

By drawing distinctions between trafficking and prostitution, between under and over eighteen, some well-intentioned anti-trafficking organisations acquiesce to the perpetuation of a system known to be extremely violent and damaging while continuing to stigmatise and blame most of its victims. This stigmatisation maintains the disempowerment and marginalisation of the same population these groups want to help. It also empowers the predators who prey on our most vulnerable, whether under or over eighteen.

FreeIrishWoman

ARTICLE 14

Prostitution and the Commercial Value of Youth – Posted on June 3, 2012

People who argue that prostitution would be free of coercion, trafficking, the exploitation of minors – and everything else that prevents it from being some kind of all-above-board consenting-adults-only autonomy party – are people who ignore one vital aspect of prostitutions reality. It is the commercial value of youth.

Just as in some actual industries, like modelling or professional dance, youth is highly prized among attributes. Unlike modelling or dance though, youth in prostitution is prized far above beauty and the fluidity of movement. In order to be most highly in demand in prostitution, you don’t need to be the prettiest flower in the field; you just need to be among the youngest. And what you can or cannot do with your body is irrelevant; it just matters that it hasn’t been on the planet for very long.

One of the commonest questions that comes through on any brothels phone line is ‘What age is the youngest girl you have?’ I could not count the times I have been asked that question, and I defy anybody who has answered a brothels phone to tell the blatant lie that it is not the commonest question they’ve been asked too.

The commercial value of youth is so profoundly built-in to prostitution that women routinely lie about their age in order to generate more business. The clients know this, of course, and even as women are shaving a few years off clients are adding a few on. ‘I’m twenty-six – I’ll tell him I’m twenty-three’ / ‘She’s twenty-three? – that means she’s twenty-six’.

Nobody’s fooling anybody here, and the only thing the whole pathetic charade is any good for is the revealing nature of what’s going on behind the pretence. What it reveals, of course, is that men who buy bodies for sex usually want to buy the youngest body they can find.

Last year it was reported to the BBC that prostitutes as young as thirteen were working the streets in Swindon, in the English county of Wiltshire. “Come here at the weekend and you’ll get 13-year-old girls to 19-year-old girls out here”, one prostitute told reporters.

When I read reports like these I just sigh. It tires me to pre-empt the shock people will express. It tires me to imagine that shock, whether it is genuine or not, because if it is genuine then that proves we have a long way to go in educating people about the reality of prostitution, and if it is not, well then, here is yet more in a tsunami of evidence that there are those who do not want the reality of prostitution understood.

Whenever any evidence of teenaged prostitution is revealed the pro-prostitution lobby move immediately to put forth the preposterous assertion that this town is somehow different or unique. The attitude is always either ‘thirteen-year-olds, good Lord, who ever heard of such a thing?’ – or ‘thirteen-year-olds, good Lord, we could clear up this situation if we legalised prostitution!’ – as if somehow the demand for adolescent bodies would vanish if only we’d make the sale of adult bodies okay!

Usually, however, they will simply deny that adolescent prostitution is widespread, or that adolescents are much in demand in the first place.

‘How do we know this is true?’ will come the query from the pro-prostitution lobby. It is not a query in the genuine sense of the word. A real query seeks an answer. This query seeks to obscure the same answer it purports to be seeking.

This will seem strange and confusing to some people. It is neither strange nor confusing to me; I’ve been exposed to the tactics of the pro-prostitution lobby for too long to be surprised or confused by these sorts of seemingly tangled and nonsensical tactics. What people need to understand is that they are not nonsensical. These are obscurest policies and they are purposeful and predictable, and when you understand their purpose you will have no problem predicting them too.

Their purpose is consistently the same; it is to deny and refute the sick and twisted nature of what actually goes on in prostitution. The truth they don’t want to you know is that men who pay for sex will most often opt to pay for a fifteen-year-old over a seventeen-year-old, a seventeen-year-old over a nineteen-year-old, a nineteen-year-old over a twenty-one-year-old, and so on and so forth.

Now, let me be very clear about this – I will be called a liar for having asserted the above. It will be said that I am trying to demonise punters, that I am telling lies about their preferences and proclivities. I wish I was. In my first year in prostitution, when I was fifteen-years-old, I was used by countless hundreds of men; I truly couldn’t say how many. I saw up to ten men a day so you may do the maths for yourself (the thoughts of doing that calculation disturbs me). As I stated in my Examiner article back in February, men were so obviously aroused by my youth it made them climax very quickly, so I soon learned to tell them how old I was in order to shorten the whole ordeal. I made it a policy; it was one of the first things I said when I got into the car – not that I needed to bring up the subject because it was usually one of the first questions asked of me.

In all those hundreds of men, one man, just ONE, turned his van around and brought me back to where he’d found me.

So yes, those who advocate for legalised or decriminalised prostitution will do their damnedest to obscure the truth about the high commercial value placed on young bodies in prostitution, all the while squawking ‘Where’s the evidence? Where’s the evidence?’ – like some kind of belligerent and demented parrot, with all the repetitiveness and severe comprehension issues you’d expect. All beak and no brains, in other words.

This is to be expected; of course the pro-prostitution lobby don’t want you to know that girls who are post-puberty by only a year or two are routinely lusted after, sought out, highly prized and then abused for enough years ‘till they’ve lost much of their commercial value. If that was widely known, it would do a great deal of damage to the autonomous, sexually-liberated, empowerment fantasy depiction they are consistently trying to peddle.

As for ‘Where’s the evidence?’ – I don’t need to ask that question. When I was a fifteen-year-old prostitute I was FAR more in-demand than I ever was as a twenty-two-year-old, even though at twenty-two I was slim, pretty, and an extremely youthful woman; but therein lay the problem. I was a woman.

There is huge emphasis placed on the commercial value of youth in prostitution. ‘The evidence’ is in every brothel and red-light zone in the land, and I know that because I lived the evidence.

A good blog post typifying a particular ‘staid’ type of sex worker who happened to start working out of necessity early from environmental issues, but has somehow remained in the field by choice while not liking the field too much. Perhaps some personal issues about being denied other opportuunities when younger. @FreeIrishWoman seems to enjoy the sense of indignation working as a sex worker and who knows in some twisted manner, gains strength at the cutting at the conscience of her clients one can read from the writing. The ethical hirers who do want 100% consensual and a clear conscience should give this particular worker a skip. The ‘mean’ lot who gravitate from morality to desire from religious probably, would doubtless be twice attracted. While sex would be available, sex positivism is not to be found here!

Decriminalising prostitution could mean better safety and improved relations with police for sex workers. A series of gang attacks on brothels in east London has triggered calls for changes to the prostitution laws after victims who reported knifepoint robberies said they ended up being threatened with prosecution. A police investigation has been launched as senior Labour and Conservative members of the London assembly and the English Collective of Prostitutes allege that violent crime is being given a lower priority than less serious sex offences.

The attacks highlight the growing debate over calls for New Zealand’s pioneering decriminalisation of sex work to be considered – an approach recently supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers. What is said by sex workers to be a spate of robberies – involving cash and jewellery – coincides with an increase in police raids on east London addresses being used as brothels before the 2012 London Olympics.

The first address targeted was in Barking, east London, on 6 December. A video showing five men apparently breaking into another house in the area being used by sex workers is also being studied by officers. The women who made the first complaint allege they recognise some of the gang members from the YouTube clip. In a third attack, at a different address, a woman who worked as a maid at a brothel is alleged to have been raped by the gang. None of the victims there reported the offence for fear of being charged by officers with living off the proceeds of prostitution; the police say they are so far unaware of this incident.

The ECP said changes to the law, in response to fears over the forcible trafficking of foreign sex workers into Britain, have made it more difficult for women to work together in houses for safety. A letter of complaint sent by Niki Adams, a leading ECP activist who works with Legal Action for Women, to the borough police commander in Barking last month, said the way the investigation into the first incident had been pursued had discouraged “sex workers from reporting attacks”. The letter continued: “The 6 December attack was at knifepoint and the women felt they had to try and protect themselves. They think the assailants may well be the same people who have robbed them before, who have got away with it, and so have returned and become more violent as they have got bolder.

“Targeting women for prosecution in this way undermines any attempts to catch those who attack and exploit sex workers … We are receiving reports of incidents where women have been attacked and their attackers have told them brazenly that they know women won’t dare go to the police.” Adams believes there may have been as many as 20 attacks in the area over the past two years. The Metropolitan police confirmed it was aware of the 6 December attack and the YouTube video and is investigating whether the attacks are linked. “We can confirm that we were called to an alleged incident of aggravated burglary at an address in Victoria Road, Barking,” a statement said.

“Patrolling officers arrived at the scene and were quickly accompanied by scene of crime officers and detectives from Barking and Dagenham CID. Detectives also visited the venue on a further occasion to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incident. “Unfortunately, those at the address were unwilling to substantiate the allegation or further assist with the investigation despite a number of attempts for them to do so. The case remains under investigation and should any further information come to light it will of course be vigorously pursued.” The force said “a notice has been served to the registered owner of the venue in Victoria Road under the auspices of section 33a of the Sexual Offences Act 1956. The notice formally notified the recipient that they were liable to prosecution should the premises in Victoria Road remain in use as a brothel”. Referring to the YouTube video, the police said: “We are looking to see if the attacks are linked. Officers take any such reports extremely seriously and actively encourage all members of the community, particularly those who may be vulnerable to such incidents, to come forward and contact police. “Officers at Barking and Dagenham work hard to ensure that the borough remains a safe place for all residents. The welfare of victims remains our primary concern and we acknowledge that some members of the community are more vulnerable and susceptible to crime. “We strive to encourage and support female victims and to assist us further we are in the process of launching a bespoke multi-agency victim care service. This will see female victims receiving the best possible support and will include fast-track referrals to housing and health professionals as well as Safer Neighbourhood reassurance intervention.”

Prostitution itself is not illegal but associated activities – such as kerb crawling, placing advertising cards in phoneboxes and working in premises with more than one person available for paid sex – are outlawed.

Last November Simon Byrne, Acpo’s lead officer on prostitution and sexual exploitation, suggested there was a need for a fresh look at the legal balance. Then deputy chief constable of Greater Manchester, Byrne is in the process of moving to the Met as assistant commissioner. “There is a great amount of academic research available, much of which supports the view that an alternative approach is needed,” he wrote on his official Acpo blog. “An example would be the decriminalisation and regulation of brothels in Australia and New Zealand, not an answer to all of the related issues but certainly a solution to some.

“More of those involved in sex work in Australia and New Zealand can now access health services with ease, whilst maintaining more personal security in an emotive area for policing.”

Another proponent of reform is Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London assembly. “The law is framed so as to put women [sex workers] into the most vulnerable position,” he said. “The changes brought in by the last government seemed to [be derived from] the view that every single worker in the sex trade was trafficked. “People are not willing to come forward over these attacks. When they report them, the women themselves have had action taken against them. I’m compiling a report on the problem for Boris Johnson.”

Len Duvall, the leader of the Labour group at the London assembly, said: “We need to examine in greater detail information and case studies from those countries that have sought to legalise prostitution, including the model put forward by New Zealand, especially if it provides a degree of protection for sex workers and reduces crimes associated with prostitution.

“Where brothels have not posed a problem to the wider community and there has been no evidence of sex trafficking, I have heard evidence that the police have taken an inconsistent and heavy-handed approach in dealing with sex workers. There is also evidence that crimes against sex workers are being ignored.”

Earlier this month, Sheila Farmer, a sex worker who operated with other women out of shared premises, had charges of brothel-keeping against her dismissed at Croydon crown court. The Crown Prosecution Service said there had been no change in enforcement policy; the unexpected failure of a witness to appear led to the charge being withdrawn. Farmer said she had chosen to work with other women for safety because she had been attacked previously when working alone.

Nigel Richardson, the solicitor who represented her, said he was aware of another case in Surrey where women had reported an attack on their flat from a rival operation. “They were visited by two men who threatened the women and were pouring petrol around the place,” he said.

“My client called the police. Officers intially took the attack very seriously but eventually arrested my client. The men were never brought to book for an assault but my client was prosecuted for running a brothel.”

Tim Barnett, the British-born former New Zealand MP who pushed through his adopted country’s decriminalisation legislation in 2003, was in London before Christmas where he briefed Boff and Duvall. “We said let’s make the law the best to minimise harm,” he said at the time. “We set up a review of the legislation. A number of people said the number of sex workers would rise.

“So we reviewed it after five years in 2008. The review didn’t find any increase and there was an improvement in the relationship with the police. Sex workers were using their rights under the legislation to deal with poor-quality brothel owners or clients who had been behaving abusively.”

Think deeper and not be influenced by the agenda laden NPPs . . . this is NOT to be used as ‘proof’ of support of rape. This is the offense that might cause rape . . .

ARTICLE 16

NHS doctors to be forced to work weekends for the first time in push for improved seven-day a week care – by Daily Mail Reporter – PUBLISHED: 15:45 GMT, 16 December 2012 | UPDATED: 23:19 GMT, 16 December 2012

Oupatients appointments and surgical procedures could be carried out on Saturdays and Sundays for the first time
The shake up is part of plans by Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of the new NHS Commissioning Board

Seven days: Sir Bruce Keogh plans to introduce seven day working to the NHS

Doctors could be forced to work at weekends under plans to create a health service with supermarket-style opening hours.

Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS’s medical director, said that patients, like shoppers, should be entitled to the same quality of service on Saturday and Sunday as during the week.

He said it was no longer acceptable for hospitals and GPs’ surgeries to operate for the convenience of their staff at the expense of patients and that clinics and day case operations should be available seven days a week.

It should also be possible to get weekend hospital appointments for scans and GPs should provide slots to treat patients at weekends, he said.

The proposal is to be considered by the NHS Commissioning Board in an effort to improve access to healthcare.

He told the Sunday Times: ‘Our system has been based around providing as good a working environment as you can for the people who work in the health service, which isn’t necessarily matched with what the people who want services have.

‘If you wanted a day case operation, and you didn’t want to take a day off work, why can’t you have it on a Saturday or Sunday?’

‘Tesco have had to go through this – it was a complex issue for them – we will need to look at the terms and conditions or service of people.’

He added that having empty clinics and operating theatres on a Saturday and Sunday is a waste of NHS resources.

Research by the board found that a patient admitted to hospital on a Sunday was 16 per cent more likely to die than if they were admitted on a Wednesday.

Keogh can introduce the changes and implement financial rewards and penalties to ensure that hospitals follow the guidelines.

Contract changes: Many medical professionals will have to work Saturdays and Sundays for the first time

The plans will no doubt anger doctors who will be keen to protect their current working hours.

Medical professionals will not receive any extra money for working weekends but will be given days off in the week instead.

The proposals will be fully outlined in the NHS Commissioning Board’s first planning guidance which will detail how health funds will be spent ahead and which will be released on Tuesday.

The British Medical Association (BMA) last night rejected the idea that that the medical profession could learn from private firms such as Tesco but it was ‘open’ to discussing seven day working.

How to charge for medical treatment.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Try this. Instead of all doctors having Saturdays and Sundays off, some doctors could have Mondays and Tuesdays off, then the overlap from different shift doctors should cover everything.

Day shift should focus on geriatrics and paediatrics (adult people working will put off visits to nighttime and will not visit during the day) while evening shift will be more popular for the adults. Midnight shift should have the least staff (most people sleeping), though everyone not of the above groups might visit, emergency services from racers gettti8ng into accidents and drunks getting into fights will make up the most of this shift. The fact that the one can get medical aid 24/7 makes for a safer feeling in any district overall.

ARTICLE 17

Is this the end of paper banknotes? Plastic version could be in your pocket in just three years – by Rebecca Evans – PUBLISHED: 00:04 GMT, 17 December 2012 | UPDATED: 00:04 GMT, 17 December 2012

Overhaul could see environmentally-friendly notes introduced from 2015
Have proved a success since being introduced in Australia in 1988
Plastic lasts much longer and are more hygienic but more expensive to make

Plastic banknotes are set to be introduced in Britain, replacing the paper money used for more than 300 years.

The radical overhaul could see the more durable, waterproof and harder-to-counterfeit polymer sterling notes in circulation within three years.

The Bank of England has put out a £1billion tender from 2015 for the printing of notes at its press in Debden, Essex.

Paper money could be replaced within three years after being used for more than three centuries

Part of this process demands that bidders are able to cope with the change from paper to plastic from the start of the contract.

Since 2003, the contract has been held by De La Rue – one of only two makers of polymer notes.

The company, which prints more than 150 currencies, has just produced new plastic banknotes for the Pacific island of Fiji.

Plastic notes were first introduced in Australia in 1988 as a measure against counterfeiting.

They have proved a success, and are apparently particularly popular with surfers who are able to keep money in their pockets without it disintegrating.

Other countries to issue polymer notes include New Zealand, Romania, Papua New Guinea, Mexico and Vietnam. In Northern Ireland, a plastic fiver was introduced in 1999 to mark the Millennium.

The Bank’s chief cashier Chris Salmon has already said plastic notes were being looked at as a possibility to replace paper money

Plastic notes last much longer than cotton fibre-based paper ones. For instance, an Australian $5 bill lasts about 40 months, against six months for a £5 note.

Polymer notes are more hygienic as they absorb fewer bacteria, harder to tear or crease – making them easier for vending machines – and waterproof, even able to survive being put in the washing machine.

A key feature is a clear window, which normally contains an ‘optical variable device’ that splits light into its component colours and is extremely hard to counterfeit. Plastic notes can also contain holograms.

They are also more environmentally friendly as fewer need to be produced and they can be recycled.

However, they are considerably more expensive to produce and would create an initial cost as ATMs and vending machines would have to be adapted to accept them.

The Bank’s chief cashier Chris Salmon had already revealed it was investigating the possibility of polymer or plastic-coated banknotes.
‘Today I’m going to make some £20 notes out of this old plastic washing-up bottle’

It is understood that the Bank will initially introduce lower denominations, such as the fiver, which are in wider use so become dog-eared more rapidly.

De La Rue’s chief executive Tim Cobbold said: ‘If you think about the life of a banknote, it takes quite a hammering.

‘It’s being folded, it’s being crunched, it’s in and out of wallets and it could be in the wet or dry.’

But financial expert David Buik, of the retail and trading services firm Cantor Index, believes the conversion to plastic notes should not be rushed.

‘I think it’s something that needs to be more carefully thought out,’ he said.

‘Money laundering is a huge problem and if the security measures introduced could be used to make notes more traceable, then that would be very good.

‘But it needs to be applied internationally, the major countries all need to be singing from the same hymn sheet.’

A spokesman for the Bank of England said: ‘No definite decisions have been taken yet but the Bank is considering all options.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Paper 300 years? Try precious metals 3000 or more years. Barter possible more than 30,000 . . . Parallel currencies in PM used in the manner of barter should put an end to the plastic note b.s.. Make your own localised currency citizens! Stop ceding economic control to central national banks.

A Japanese model isn’t masking her intentions to be famous, but she is wearing a mask.

Her name is Anna Amemiya and she has earned a certain amount of recognition by wearing a giant mask based on the facial features normally associated with anime comics and cartoons.

She first popped onto the Japanese pop scene as a model in 2010 and released a DVD in December of that year. So far, her biggest contribution to local culture was the lifesize pillow featuring her body, according to OddityCentral.

Amemiya, 22, reportedly only appears in public with the giant head, which makes it easy for fans to spot her in her latest endeavor: A play in Tokyo called “Venus Fantasista,” which is based on a Japanese mobile game about a ragtag group of beautiful girls who form a soccer team, RocketNews24.com reported.

David Merrill, a comic artist and journalist who writes about comics and anime, said Amemiya’s decision to perform with a giant cartoon mask on her noggin takes “cosplay” — a term for when adults dress up as characters from anime, manga, fantasy or sci-fi — to “an ultra creepy level.”

“This is a name for what she’s doing is ‘kigurumi,’ where adults, mostly men, dress up as creepy anime mascots, first by wearing body suits to compress their figures before slipping on the costumes,” Merrill told the Huffington Post. “This is the first time I’ve seen an adult wear the mask like this though. It’s very fetishy — like a gimp mask.”

Merrill thinks Amemiya’s rise to fame showcases the difference between Japanese and North American culture.

“If she was here, people would be trying to get photos of her without the mask,” he said. “In Japan, they’re not interested in what looks like in real life.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Some people don’t look so good. This is the best way to compensate barring expensive facial plastic surgery. Not creepy, just poor or p(l)ain-shy, no different from plastic surgery faces in any case, except the mask can come off.

“Is this the legendary disguising technique in wuxia fiction?” The sale of extremely realistic “human skin” masks on Taobao.com has provoked heated discussions among Chinese netizens, some of whom fear the masks may be used by criminals. “The ‘human skin’ masks have been on the market for a year, and are mostly used for entertainment. It is well within legal limits, so Taobao has no right to interfere,” a Taobao spokesperson said.

Although the shopkeepers have specified on the notes for buyers that these masks sold in their shops are only used for entertainment, parties, performances, film and television special effects and collections, not for any criminal activities. Otherwise, they must take the consequence. However, netizens are still worried about selling the masks on the Internet and some even asked how the police should do if the murderer wearing a mask commits a crime. Doesn’t the online purchase of these masks provide an opportunity to the lawbreakers?

The reporter logged on to taobao.com and searched “human skin masks,” and saw eight options, including “high-imitation human skin masks,” “disguise using human skin masks ” and “mask of a real person.” Among them, three shops sell high-simulated human skin masks, priced at 500 yuan to 9,000 yuan, and the popular masks in one shop are not custom-made, but the appearance of an Asian middle-aged man. Three such masks have been sold within half a month.

One shop owner who claimed to be the originator of “human skin masks” told the reporter that these masks are made of imported medical silicone and have good elasticity. They are fit for various types of faces but it is very complex to produce them. In addition to fixed styles, customers also can spend 20,000 yuan to custom-make a mask by providing a photo of a person. When asked whether it needs to be agreed by the person, the shop owner said that it does not need any procedures. Customers only need to pay 50 percent down payment and email the photo to the manufacturer, they can get it one month later.

The reporter made a call to the public relations department of Taobao and was told that Taobao is very strict to the products sold on its website and it absolutely prohibits the sales of illegal goods. At present, the “human skin masks” are mainly used for entertainment and film and television production and they belong to legitimate sales, so Taobao cannot interfere to them. The photo can be processed so as to look more authentic.

The reporter also called Beijing’s business administration department of Beijing and quality supervision hotline and was told that the sale of “human skin masks” is legitimate. These masks manufacturers are legitimate if they have a business licensing and these masks do not have a quality problem.

The Beijing police said, “It will make the case confused if criminals use a mask to commit crime. However, such cases have not yet occurred in Beijing, so we do not know what influence such cases will bring.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Perhaps make ownership of masks that look like existing people illegal, needing an identity card AND appearing in person to order or commission a mask. Mask license plates? Improved versions of oneself could be legal PROVIDED some obviously artificial distinguising mark is used (perhaps a lightly applied ‘racoon’ Yosemite Sam style over the artificial mask), and similar looking people owning similar looking masks could be legal. Many people may not look good enough or want to appear in public and be immediately recognizable for any number of reasons (i.e. working at menial jobs etc.) so masks (in this example masks that obscure identity) might still be in demand or in use, though.

It’s a Saturday afternoon and, having told me that my wardrobe is a little “tired”, my girlfriend decides to take me shopping in Shoreditch. We go to a store called A.P.C. It’s French, which is apparently justification for charging £75 for a t-shirt.

Once inside I immediately feel uncomfortable. The people in here are different. They have unblemished, olive skin. Their clothes fit. They do not have the permanently awkward, anaemic look of someone who has just finished masturbating. This place is not for me.

By the time I’ve seen the warning signs, it’s too late, I’m in the tractor beam of a hipster shop assistant from Brooklyn who’s wearing enough colours to induce an acid trip. She’s insisting that buying some jeans would be, like, totally the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

To make matters worse, my girlfriend and the shop assistant appear to have fused into Siamese twins and are simultaneously barking at me about colours, cuts and sizes. I’m scared and disorientated. It’s like a sartorial Vietnam.

Moments later, in a flurry of arms and emphatic adverbs, I’m standing in my boxers, alone in a 4ft by 4ft cell with a pair of absurdly tight jeans and a distinct absence of dignity. Somehow, I’m supposed to get these jeans on. Beginning to panic, I look around for something, anything, that’s going to help. Do they have Vaseline dispensers for this kind of thing?

So I try again. Eventually, after much pulling, struggling and twisting, I get them on. After breathing in to the point of asphyxiation, I even manage to get the jeans buttoned. Moving, however, is a more complex challenge. My entire lower body appears to have been shrink wrapped.

Somehow I manage to get out of the door without ripping anything, although each step almost certainly diminishes my chances of procreating. The reaction outside is jubilant. My girlfriend and Brooklyn girl are shouting and whooping with joy as if I’ve just surgically prevented Piers Morgan from ever speaking again. The jeans, apparently, look good. In my naivety I’m swept up by this notion as well. I’m temporarily convinced that buying these things might actually be a good idea, that maybe I’m not a fashion vacuum after all.

I’ve set myself up for a fall, of course.

On returning to the changing room I bend over to pick up a hanger from the floor. That’s when it happens. The sound is horrendous, a trumpet blast of a rip from somewhere around my nether regions. I hold the position, bent double. The chatter of the shop outside has been replaced by grim silence. The beautiful people are displeased.

There is some desperate hope within me that the sound wasn’t what I thought it was, that actually I’ve farted extremely loudly without feeling it. A swift examination of the jeans’ rear seam dispels this notion. They are horribly ripped.

“Are you OK in there?” sneers Brooklyn girl. My girlfriend clears her throat. I am no longer the hero of the hour.

This is almost certainly the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, but with awful clarity I realise the only option available. Like a true Brit, I’m going to pretend that everything’s fine and buy the jeans out of sheer shame.

“Fine, thanks. I love these jeans. Just. Love. Them,” I say, stifling a sob. “Could you ring them through the till now and I’ll pay once I’m out?”

There are tears in my eyes as I approach the counter with the tightly folded jeans under my arm. Bag? No, darling, I don’t need a bloody bag.

Being British, I haven’t even dared to ask how much the things are going to set me back. The card machine is presented with a flourish and I can barely look at the screen as I tap out another line of debt to Barclays. In my head I’m working out which of my friends knows how to sew.

“Oh and by the way,” trills Brooklyn girl as the irrevocable green button is pushed, “you can’t wash them.” And she’s right, I can’t. Not for four months, apparently, when I’m allowed to gently steam them in the bathroom. Insult, meet injury.

So for a while I wandered around Shoreditch in the sewn up jeans. I pretended to be one of them. You know, “them” the impossibly smug types that work in the creative industries and all look like David Bowie. The sort whose jeans, far from being simply tight, are easily mistaken for a paint job. Them.

I’m fooling nobody, of course, because I don’t look like Bowie. I have no hair, you see, and I’ve a bulbous head that’s too big for my body. I look a bit like a potato that’s been skewered on a fork, and no amount of trendy clothing is going to fix that.

In the end the jeans split again anyway. Now they lie crumpled at the bottom of my wardrobe while my overdraft continues to expand faster than Oprah.

The moral of the story? Fashion is mass cultural hypnosis. It’s a hamster wheel for the special ones, the ones with stone-cutting cheekbones and flawless skin. We ordinaries just aren’t cut out for it. So wear what you damned well please. You’ll be happier, richer and you’ll be able to use your pockets.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Look at the comment of the previous article. Instead of barring ugly or mishappen people, recommend masks/plastic surgery or extra large/all covering clothes instead – like a burkha or kaftan which the most shapeless or weirdly shaped among Arabs pull off just fine. A stylized mask wearing ugly person would be just as cool because the ‘beautiful people’ (unless partocularly communal as a group far from mainstream – like extreme subculture types) are also people would be happy to keep them as friends even though the mask will be the person rather than the person and superficiality of the feeling of doing a good deed while not being offended by bad looks make the presence of these people worthwhile. Ugly People Should Bother With Fashion, but should make the effort to hide their ugliness with faux aesthetic which is better than plain ugly.

For those who ‘ . . . look a bit like a potato that’s been skewered on a fork . . . ‘ take the burkha or kaftan advice seriously, except use material that the target audience will be appreciative of. The beautiful people of course can get away with the shabbiest outfit or second hand shop stuff.

The moral of the story? Mass cultural hypnosis needs to be countered. The special ones, will get off that hamster wheel for the ones wearing phantom of the opera style (or any other style one prefers) stone-cutting angular cheekbones and flawless skin. The ordinaries just aren’t cut out for it. So wear what damned well pleases them. They’ll be happier, richer and they’ll be able to use whats in their pockets. Dress code and ‘beauty code’ still can be applied, in which ‘uglies’ will be barred from entry, much like bouncers/doormen on particularly crowded nights or popular venues, choose the best looking people to enter their pubs etc.. so that the crowd looks cool rather than a total mess. During bad economy times (or *shudder* a ugly genetics boom – this is what might have happened in some countries with a lack of good models btw) if the venues are considered expensive, the most appearance discriminating venues will be the first to drop off.

In “Ultima Forever,” players must make choices based on questions that often don’t have black-or-white answers.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

“Ultima Forever” challenges players to gain virtue, not hack and slash
The game is a followup to 1985’s “Ultima IV”
Designers say questions in the game have no black-and-white answers
It will be released late this year for PC, iPad

(CNN) — Making a video game espousing the virtues of compassion, sacrifice and spirituality doesn’t sound like a winner in today’s battle-happy gaming environment. But 27 years ago, it was exactly the type of game that caught the imagination and spurred excitement in gamers.

Developers at Bioware are hoping to catch that same virtual lightning in a bottle with “Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar,” the next chapter in the search for the Avatar of Britannia.

In it, the hero must achieve the highest levels in eight virtues: Valor, Justice, Honor, Compassion, Honestly, Humility, Sacrifice and Spirituality. Through actions in the game, players strive to become a shining example of good for the population.

The new title is based off “Ultima IV,” a computer game dating all the way to 1985. It is considered one of the most innovative games ever because of its divergence from the typical hack-and-slash approach. Lead designer Kate Flack said “Ultima Forever” hopes to bring back the appeal of being a good person in a video game.

“Games are a cultural artifact. They are affected by all the things around them,” Flack said. The developers of “Ultima IV” “were saying games can be about being a good person. At the time, it was in reaction to a backlash against the violence and things in video games.

“I think the parallel nowadays is that we are almost frightened of high fantasy. If it’s not covered in blood, we don’t believe it. I’m going to be as subversive as ‘Ultima IV’ was at the time.”

“Ultima Forever” picks up 21 years after “Ultima IV” left off. Players can join up to three friends, as each works toward the goal of becoming the virtuous “avatar” of the land.

While the graphics, look and feel have obviously been upgraded due to advancements in technology over the years, Flack said the concept still remains true to what it was nearly three decades ago.

“It’s about mastering yourself, not mastering the world,” she said. “When (a non-player character) asks you a question … you are forced to pause and ask yourself, ‘What do I think is the right thing to do? Do I want to be kind, or do I want to be fair? What kind of person am I?’ ”

Rather than seeing how many creatures a player can kill or how much gold they can accumulate, Flack is more interested in getting inside the player’s head. She says the game is almost like a personality test, giving players choices in the attempt to be a good person. How they get there is up to them.

“It’s not like the game is going to grab you by the throat and make you make these choices. It is a slow drip-drip-drip. And maybe they will start to recognize these same choices in their real life and become better people,” she said.

As players progress, choices need to be made about questions that don’t always have black-and-white answers.

You find a bag of gold, which you know was stolen. Do you give it to the authorities (Honesty), donate it to the church (Spirituality) or hand it over to a starving family (Compassion)? Keeping it, which would be the likely choice in most of today’s games, doesn’t help you win this one.

Bioware designer Alec Fisher-Lasky was a former Arlington County, Virginia, police officer before deciding to get into video games. He says the decisions made in “Ultima Forever” are similar to the types of decisions he had to make while on the force — just at a much slower pace.

“When I found out they were working on the ‘Ultima’ series, I was really excited about it. It ties into what I had done as a police officer facing these kinds of moral decisions every day,” Fisher-Lasky said. “I wanted to give that experience to players. What do I do in this situation? What are the consequences? Why would I do this one thing over another?”

He said it was a challenge to make the player feel like their choices truly matter. If designers have done their job well, he thinks, people will care about their in-game decisions and really examine what kind of person outside of the game they are to make those choices.

“Ultima Forever” will be released free-to-play for PCs and the iPad this year, with more character classes, content and platforms announced later. Flack said Bioware’s experience with massively multiplayer online games allowed it to stuff a lot of detail into the mobile version without sacrificing its look on more powerful PCs.

Fans are already reacting to the early news of a new “Ultima” game. Players who played “IV” in their youth have said on the “Ultima Forever” Facebook page that they are looking forward to sharing a similar experience with their kids. Diehard fans of the franchise are also very excited.

“‘Ultima IV’ is the game that all modern (role-playing games) flow from, but it’s also kind of the impossible platonic ideal of a (computer role-playing game),” said retro-gamer Ben Lesnick, 31, of Washington. “It came at this incredibly special time in game development history where that kind of game could exist. Really, if ‘Ultima Forever’ is one-tenth as engrossing as ‘Ultima IV,’ then we’ll have a pretty fantastic game that’s worth playing on its own merits.”

Flack said she tried to be respectful while working on this project. She understands the history and emotion tied into the franchise and didn’t want to override people’s memories of the game.

“It’s not going to suit everybody,” she said. “And in fact, making a game that does suit everybody is going to let the fans down more, in a way. It’s bland. It’s insipid. It’s the worst possible thing you can do with ‘Ultima.’ I’d rather try and make a statement than not.”

Players may sign up now to be involved in the “Ultima Forever” beta test.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

You find a bag of gold, which you know was stolen. Do you give it to the authorities (Honesty), donate it to the church (Spirituality) or hand it over to a starving family (Compassion)? Keeping it, which would be the likely choice in most of today’s games, doesn’t help you win this one.

i) Authorities are not always honest, they do not deserve the right to disemburse even, they probably wouldn’t of the owners do not turn up to claim.
ii) Donate to Church, again an even narrower interest group which may allude to fundamentalism and disenfranchisement of all other faiths.
iii) Hand over to starving family . . . give a man a fish vs teaching a man to fish vs BUYING the man a fishstocks for fish farming ponds. None of the above options sorry, just too simplistic. BUYING the man a fish farm was not offered as an option . . .

How about buying the election so that land can be distributed? If the gold is too little, then put that aside until enough to buy a field to grow food that can feed MANY starving families. The above worries me, thoughtful yes, potential for being manipulative and imposing limited option mindsets – very much so as well. Kinda sickening and dangerous when scripting is not open source, when software codes are all monopolized, could you trust ‘thoughtful’ to people who’d rather develoope your game for you or give you the power to develop your own games . . . so here we go again . . . another round of b.s. that a simple vote cast in the right manner that could distribute land and wealth . . . Kinder and gentler? For certain. But clarity of thought? Just as bad as the rest of ‘post-book era’ offerings.

New Delhi: Ever since she announced on Twitter that she will feature nude on the cover of Playboy magazine, Bollywood actor of mainly B-grade films, Sherlyn Chopra, has never stopped creating ripples on social media websites, be it with raunchy pictures, teasers of her photoshoot, or as is in this case – outstanding confession of having accepted money for sex.

A series of ‘confessional’ tweets from the unverified account of Chopra, who supposedly tweets from the handle @SherlynChopra, shocked users on Friday. Chopra claimed in those tweets she has had paid sex in her life, but she is past that phase now. In the contrite posts – meant for her fans – a slightly defensive Chopra said it was up to people on how they wanted to perceive her after reading her tweets.

“The confessions of ‘just a girl’ – Dear all, before I proceed, let me make it very clear that the intent of sharing the following confessions. It is not to create public sympathy or to raise eyebrows or to project myself as a ‘bad girl gone good’, it’s just to state a few facts. Physical intimacy with me at a price…. I’ve had sex for money, having indulged in out of free will…. but ever since I got back from LA in July this year, there has been a shift in my level of consciousness,” Chopra said.

Sherlyn Chopra: I’ve had paid sex but I’m no longer available

She had spent some time shooting for her Playboy cover at the famous Playboy mansion and posted photos with (soft porn) mogul Hugh Hefner.

“I now understand that I cannot claim to be ‘free’ and continue to make choices n decisions under obligation. I enjoy being bold. I enjoy oozing sexuality in still pictures and in moving visuals. I enjoy being a tease. I enjoy sex when it is the end result of an uncontrollable lust and or attraction. Sorry to disappoint you but I’m no longer available for paid sex,” she said.

Chopra then gets philosophical.

“I’ve come to realize that I derive no pleasure or joy out of physical intimacy that is pursued out of obligation (mental/emotional/financial or any other kind). I now believe that there is in infinite power and infinite intelligence within each one of us and if we persist in having a child like faith and a child like belief in the powers of the Spirit/the Subconscious Mind. “Then there shall be no lack of tangible and intangibles riches in our lives. You are free to make a mockery of my confessions or to consider them as utter nonsense or to believe in their genuineness,” she said.

The response from her readers was largely positive. They praised her gumption and honesty.

One user @justeshoo said “Mam it takes guts to admit mistakes, but you have done it amidst the whole world, I salute you.” Another @jaspreet_abat said “Such a bold girl you are. Good luck Sherlyn.” and @Stanmanplan said “it takes courage to come clean!”

Bollywood | Posted on Sep 01, 2012 at 01:11pm IST

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

“I now understand that I cannot claim to be ‘free’ and continue to make choices n decisions under obligation. THEN SHERLYN GOES . . . I enjoy being bold. I enjoy oozing sexuality in still pictures and in moving visuals. I enjoy being a tease. I enjoy sex when it is the end result of an uncontrollable lust and or attraction. Oxymoron? The first part almost is an Orwellian NLP . . . ‘free’ and continue to make choices n decisions under obligation’ is contradictory to the spirit of the second statement . . . another aging person quits, and in suitably good time too. No exactly an adult worker type per se, but a much needed voice. Pity Chopra had to ‘drop’ the lifestyle rather than call that retirement and switch to teaching others to be relaxed about this, to be sex positive. Perhaps set up a “Playboy Mansion in India”, to spread the sex positive mindset, with appropriate warning to those who might want to gentrify later of course . . . Chopra may technicality (Can someone who has technically done sex work as a hobbyist count?) never fit into a Brahmin mould now, but does represent a well near perfect facet of human existence and consciousness.

Hugh Hefner needs to formalize that RLD school or whatnot, run for Congressman to put a permanent footprint in at least non-fundo nationsworldwide (or US states with no RLD). This ‘ choices n decisions under obligation’ talk is something when one has not decided to seek something beyond human levels of existence, flowing with the current tends to be what most young people do . . . Let the ‘mere mortals’ enjoy their lives without polluting their minds with all encompassing/all brutalizing religion etc..!

The female rights movement needs this for of alternative voice! The adult work industry needs a role model as well, though overcharging (charging should be on the basis of the wealth of the customer) and being choosy of who to work with (this determines if one is professional or a hobbyist), becomes quite blurred if Chopra is to lead in this area! Something to think about you adult workers! And try for 401K pension plans as well. Professionals need to prepare for retirement as well, doubtless the less ‘capable’ or well connected will choose mistressing or gold digging escorting for the rich pretty boys – beware sensitive souls among this lot, do your family background checks if you want bonafide UC types to marry and not the incidental adult worker looking for way out of poverty . . . Run for congresswoman in India and set up formal RLDs!

They’ve been dropping some pretty heavy handed hints, but today teen bride Courtney Stodden, and her mother Krista, got the brush off from Playboy magazine.

The former beauty queen and wife of 52-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson, has reportedly been flooded with offers from porn producers after turning 18 last week.

After the bottle blonde teen made her feelings clear on the matter this weekend when she tweeted: ‘No to porn…yes to @Playboy’, the world famous magazine apparently said she was not up to their standards.

No thanks: Courtney Stodden, pictured on Sunday, has been turned down by Playboy magazine

Just say no: Courtney ruled out a porn role however, preferring to strip for the more conservative Playboy magazine

According to reports a source at the magazine said Courtney would not make the cut due to her ‘enhancements’.

But Stodden‘s mother told MailOnline that her daughter had an entirely natural figure.

‘She has never had any plastic surgery – nothing to her face, her breasts, her body. She looks good without makeup,’ Krista said.

And she explained that Courtney had just been ‘expressing an interest’ in Playboy.

‘We are in conversation with Playboy. They haven’t even seen any of her photos yet,’ she said.

‘Courtney was saying that she would be interested in Playboy.’
Stay classy: The 18-year-old has been inundated with offers to do pornography

Stay classy: The 18-year-old has been inundated with offers to do pornography

Kirsta, who signed the legal consent form allowing her to marry when she was just 16, describes herself as Courtney’s ‘momager’.

She has two older daughters, who are both married with children ‘to men their own age’ and live ‘conventional lives’ in Washington State.

Of Courtney she said: ‘She’s not conventional.’

The teen proved her figure was natural last year, when she appeared on Dr Drew Pinksy’s television show Lifechangers.

‘I guess she was telling us the truth. She does not have implants,’ said Dr Drew on the show after an ultrasound showed only natural breast tissue.
Not his type: Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine has said that they are not interested in seeing anymore of the buxom blonde

Not his type: Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine has said that they are not interested in seeing anymore of the buxom blonde

Man management: Courtney was kept under a close eye by her 52-year-old husband actor Doug Hutchison

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Too proud for hardcore eh Playboy? Well to each their own. Don’t worry Courtney!

ARTICLE 6.5

Playboy to Courtney Stodden – You’ll NEVER Be in Our Magazine

Young Bride with a matured outlook.

Stodden told TMZ Live this week she is considering doing porn — after receiving at least 4 offers — but then tweeted last night she wasn’t … and was doing Playboy instead.

But according to our Playboy sources, no offer has been made to Stodden nor will one EVER be made. Our sources say Stodden “doesn’t meet the standards of a Playboy model” … adding she looks too “enhanced.”

One source added, “[Playboy] would NEVER take her. I don’t think anybody really wants to see that anyway.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

One source added, “[Playboy] would NEVER take her. I don’t think anybody really wants to see that anyway.” Thats the voice of 1% discrimination against the middles and lowers. But focus demographics need to be maintained. Don’t worry COurtney theres always Hustler or Penthouse, if not some of the other newer porn brands.

Playboy is an American men’s magazine that features CLASSY photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner’s mother.

Natural look or natural only eh? Never seemed that Playboy was very middle class or above? But a helpful clarification. Playboy is just being for the 1% now, boo! But definately an alpha male icon bastion, though dismissive of the LCs. Try Hustler or Penthouse (less toffish and wider range of audiences, being inclusive of hardcore etc..) then Courtney! Hugh is so lucky! Everyone should have an alpha fostering mother like Hugh has regards mentality towards social form! Playboy is great for making inroads into the more fundo areas bring upper class oriented and hence less ‘rowdy’, but somewhat neglects the lower classes. Still some mags will have their focal demographics and Playboy has done tremendously well thus far and should not deviate and lose focus. Playboy should push for RLDs in every State Capital in the USA, as well as Playboy Mansions in every state as well. Look here if McDonalds can do 10 times as many outlets, Playboy can at least have 1 ‘outlet’ in each Capital. Ridiculous to say that people have to travel that far to enjoy the ‘Playboy’ atmosphere especially in the USA.

‘Today, Hustler is still considered more explicit (and more self-consciously lowbrow) than such well known competitors as Playboy and Penthouse. It frequently depicts hardcore themes, such as the use of sex toys, penetration and group sex.’

In 1998 Penthouse decided to change its format and began featuring sexually explicit pictures (i.e., actual oral, vaginal, and anal penetration), beginning with photos from the famed Stolen Honeymoonkirag sex tape featuring Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. It also began to regularly feature pictorials of female models urinating, which, until then, had been considered a defining limit of illegal obscenity as distinguished from legal pornography. The new owners (see below) significantly softened the content of the magazine starting with the January 2005 issue. Penthouse no longer showed male genitalia, real or simulated male-female sex, or any form of explicit hardcore content. (It does still feature female-female simulated sex, at least on occasion.) While this change allowed the return of a limited number of mainstream advertisers to the magazine, it has not significantly raised the number of subscribers; total circulation is still below 350,000.[5] (Many insiders feel that the softening of content may have hurt the magazine.

Guccione should never have allowed that post 2005 changes, as the fortune of the mag fell, so did Guccione leave us. Better a small outfit that didn’t change the original premise. The new ‘owners’ evidently were there to destroy Penthouse. How about a new focusing on the middles and alternative demographic? Don’t focus on F1, forcus on Car Modding types etc.. Don’t have to go all 1% like Playboy, but no need to get too deep like Hustler too. The 99% and middle class are thfocus of the world now, how about Guccione Jr. start targetting these focus groups?

Playboy is worth 40+ million 10 times Hustler’s 400 million. The 1% are out numbered 100 times which means Hustler is underperformed! Conversely the 1% do own more than 40% of the world’s wealth, so Playboy should be 1.6 billion worth but this is probably because Playboy has a narrow ethnic group representation. How about making inroads to all State Capitals in the USA and all Capitals of the world for all 3 companies?

A federal appeals court in Manhattan says the distinctive red soles of Christian Louboutin shoes are entitled to trademark protection.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled in favor of the French maker of luxury shoes worn by stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson and Halle Berry.

The court says Louboutin is entitled to protect its brand against red-soled shoes made by competitor Yves Saint Laurent S.A.S., which is also based in Paris.
Christian Louboutin heels

Win: The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan says the distinctive red soles of Christian Louboutin shoes are entitled to trademark protection

An exception to the rule is when the shoe itself is red as well. In that instance, a rival may match the color of the sole to the color of the shoe.

This would allow YSL to continue to produce ‘monochrome’ versions of its Tribtoo platform pumps.
Exception: When the shoe itself is red as well, however, a rival may match the color of the sole to the color of the shoe

YSL Tribtoo

Red rival: YSL may now continue to produce ‘monochrome’ versions of its Tribtoo platform pumps

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2008 had granted the trademark protection to Louboutin.

Louboutin has applied glossy vivid red to the outsoles of women’s shoes since 1992.

The shoes sell for upwards of $700 a pair.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Ridiculous. More than 20 years ago there were pairs of relatively unknown brands of shoes which were exactly the opposite and did not cost 700. I owned one such pair in fact. Inside of the shoe was lined with red velvet, outside was black leather, the sole of the shoe was black. This Louboutin pair was black-black-red as opposed to red-black-black. The design of the shoe itself unless exactly the same cannot count as copying. Combinations of colours is just one aspect!

Colours and major elements of an article of clothing or shoe cannot be copyrighted. A shoe has 3 portions of which any single or mixed colour can be applied and impossible to bve a trademark signature by. – inside, outside, sole. The judge is colluding and Christian Louboutin is causing an illegal monopoly over COLOUR. Would Daily Mail like to do a piece on APARTHEID in MALAYSIA?

Chris Lighty may not be a household name, but the artists he helped rise to the spotlight like 50 Cent, Q-Tip, Diddy, Foxy Brown, Mariah Carey, Busta Rhymes, and Missy Elliot definitely are. The Bronx native is the man behind Violater Records and Management, and it’s with heavy hearts that we share that he has passed away. According to reports, he was found dead in his Bronx apartment from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Earlier today, he was involved in a spat with his ex-wife at his South Riverdale apartment and law enforcement sources also believe he was dealing with financial struggles, including a $5 million tax debt to the IRS.
Posted by naijagist-amebonews.blogspot.com at 2:41 PM

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

To think Chris made the whole lot so wealthy but they wouldn’t help the guy back. Better them than you Chris. Well, as a spirit though . . . time to collect for sure?

ARTICLE 8

Case Against Pimp/Madam Who Prepares and Grooms workers as young as 13 year olds for Sex Dismissed – by Laup Japcar and Nightly Wail Reporter – PUBLISHED: 13:25 GMT, 25 September 2012 | UPDATED: 13:26 GMT, 25 September 2012

RLD pic for demonstrative purposes (unrelated to article).

In depressed economies teen prostitution is rife, taking money for sex simply is part of growing up. To perform a sex act in a car, have sex parties in defunct properties. ‘In recent times and recent years in this country, we have begun to realise how the extent of sexwork for basic necessities among youth is becoming more prevalent as wealth distribution and opportunity and costs of education become out of reach of the ordinary man. As we are not a Socialist country that distributes kand or the wealth of the plutocracy, sex work is necessary to protect the independence of these pre-adults who’s parents can barely finance themselves.

‘These unwary children must be groomed so they can protect themselves from predators,’ said the unnamed groomer.

Sex workers in depressed economies are sometimes paid with joyrides on anything from a farmer’s tractor to taxi rides to long distance bus fare and air tickets, for soft drinks or alcohol, drugs (we do not recommend and frown upon synthetics) or concert and film tickets. Used mobile phones or used electronics are also accepted. Small change, cigarettes, cuddly toys, treats for handjobs or companionship. Meals (kebabs or other fast food) and shelter are also given as payment for ‘full service’.

The presiding judge M.Gruder said :

Judge McGruder

‘I am not dealing with a team of predators and there are no allegations that the identified clients forced themselves on the boys or girls and duly paid the required minimum wage they charged.’

Predator Team 2

Nai Nameoy, 54, who lives in a caravan on a farm, was found not guilty of statuary rape as the girl told him she would to have sex with him for minimum wage (national) or an hour’s wages for the session which lasted ‘half an hour’.

The unnamed groomer helps identify children and young people who are being taken advantage of or paid below minimum wage, or who are at risk of being sexually exploited, and helps them decide if sex work is for them or not, and works with the parents if needed, as well as identify victims that need freeing from abusive madaming or pimping relationships. ‘The consent contract is very important and we strongly encourage that both or either parties or their agents have a copy that is signed clearly or even better have a video recording of every clients that clearly states consent in cases like these.’ said the groomer.

‘When laws are not clear or common sense, we are a country governed by free will, not theocracy and if there is no coercion or lack of mental capacity on simple exchanges like this, there is no case.‘ Judge M.Gruder said in the closing statement.

In the impact statement, one of the sex workers felt her ‘trust in males has (later) matured.” while another said she “would be ready for the first day of the rest of her life as a sex worker’ after she completes her stint with the groomer. As of 2012 many governments do not recognize sex work as deserving of proper legal status as work, or d

eserving of pension or health plans yet. Prostitution and sex work is still illegal in about 2/3rds of the world’s nations.

David Piecehigh and Piecehigh’s boss were compensated by the complainant for four days of lost work during the proceedings.

David Piecehigh (undated photo) ‘Case dismissed.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Thanks for the inspiration for this mostly original article Dailymail from your faked one! Either or both articles do not change the fact that a proper RLD and pensions for sex workers is still needed. More NGOs to help sex workers empower themselves and demand for legal rights as well, and a sex positive mindset for the RLD going/working demographic!

A 24-year-old popstar and a 12-year-old model have apparently fallen for one another, sending social networks in China and around the world into a frenzy.

Akama Miki, 12, declared her love to Zhang Muyi, twice her age and more importantly an adult, and it appears the feeling is mutual.

Miki’s a pre-teen sensation in China with a huge following – about 500,000 on the Chinese social network Weibo – and only follows one person back: Muyi.

The two have posted lovey-dovey posts to each other and photos of themselves together on Weibo.

While there’s no suggestion of a physical relationship, Muyi wished her a happy 12th birthday and vowed to wait “four more birthdays” until Miki is a legal age.

Miki responded: “I will always love you and you will be my darling forever!!!”, attaching a couple of love hearts at the end.

The photo of the pair touching fingers by the water at night, expressing a kiss, has created shockwaves.

Web sceptics have been quick to call the relationship a fake and a publicity stunt.

Still, why would a 24-year-old pretend to be in love with a child to boost his profile?

If you take away “popstar” and “model”, you’re just left with a 24-year-old man declaring his love for a 12-year-old. Alarm bells are ringing.

-news.com.au

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Demogoguery. The Prophet married wife no.2 Aishah at 6 and ‘took’ Aisha at 9. This is none of anyone’s business. Besides, Muyi wished her a happy 12th birthday and vowed to wait “four more birthdays” until Miki is a legal age. Whats the alarm bells b.s. at the end of the article?

ARTICLE 10

‘Soccer Mom Madam’ pleads guilty to promoting prostitution – Anna Gristina, a mother of four, won’t have to serve any more jail time

Prosecutors said Anna Gristina made millions running an illicit escort service for 15 years. Gristina maintained she was merely involved in a dating service. – by Jonathan Dienst, Shimon Prokupecz and Ida Siegal – NBCNewYork.com

The suburban mother of four accused of running an upscale escort service in Manhattan pleaded guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Anna Gristina, 44, of Monroe, N.Y., pleaded guilty to a single count of promoting prostitution, stemming from a July 2011 tryst she allegedly arranged involving two women and an undercover officer posing as a client.

Read the original story at NBCNewYork.com

Gristina will be ordered to serve five years of probation when she’s sentenced on Nov. 20. The four months she’s already spent behind bars will count toward the jail portion of her sentence, and she won’t have to serve any additional time.

Prosecutors said their five-year investigation revealed Gristina had a roster of wealthy, well-placed clients and boasted of law-enforcement connections during 15 years in a business that made her millions.

Gristina was arrested Feb. 22 and was held for months on $2 million bond. An appeals court in June called the amount “unreasonable and an abuse of discretion” and lowered it.

She was released on $250,000 bond in June after four months behind bars.

Gristina’s lawyer unsuccessfully tried to have the case thrown out in August, arguing that the DA’s office “vindictively prosecuted her as a result of her failure to cooperate with investigators” during what he called an illegal interrogation.

Gristina said in court papers that investigators shrugged off her requests for a lawyer and told her they’d let her go if she gave them information about five men — not named in her filings, but described as a financier, an international banker and a member of a politically connected family, among others.

Story: ‘Soccer Mom Madam’ on arrest: ‘It’s decimating my family’

The DA’s office countered in court papers that Gristina “has not produced a shred of evidence of actual vindictiveness.”

A grand jury decided there was enough evidence to indict Gristina before her arrest, undermining her argument that she was prosecuted because she didn’t cooperate, Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Roper and Charles Linehan wrote in a July filing.

Story: NYC ponders: Suburban mom or high-rolling madam?

The judge’s ruling didn’t address the way Gristina was questioned, saying simply that there was adequate evidence for the case to go forward.

Jaynie Baker, accused of assisting Gristina as a matchmaking recruiter, struck a deal with prosecutors in August.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Probably isn’t even a real article but here’s answering for answering’s sake.

While the current district Gristina resides in may not have been suitable in some ways, this woman needs to stand up for her right to earn a living through adult services. Being a madam or pimp is not for everyone, but the mindset and skill set is sufficiently rare and unique to need to preserve and not punish about. Overcharging though is not particularly conducive to wealth distribution, even as sequestration of wealth is no less harmful.

There is nothing to be guilty or plead guilty about, Gristina was neither exploitative not doing anything illegal in the ‘spirit of the law’ sense. Perhaps Gristina could challange the state law and set a legal precedent against what could be a form of discrimination against the right to adult work industry work and for association with sex work related workers like pimps and madams as well as adult industry customers. Promoting prostitution should not be an issue unless the area is of religious significance (not contrived though simply to exclude) or peopled by a majority fundo demographic. Where is America’s diversity and sense of justice? The wealth accured was extreme, but what Gristina did was the most natural thing in context of society and hardly harmful save by the brittleness and bigotry of the fundos or leglalists against the lower half of the human body and the industry related.

Under massive pressure and perhaps guilt from overcharging Madam Gristina crumbled and pleaded guilty instead of standing for Adult Industry rights. Shows what the media circus and heartbreaking psychological pressure from the vicious minded society can do to subvert one’s personal values or even the Judiciary’s sense of neutrality. Not civilised at all! At the most relocate Gristina and return some of that oevercharged wealth to the clients and dismiss the case!

You’d think NYC was some fundo state’s backyard the way they treat the Adult Services sector! Legalise and zone! Take a look at Singapore’s RLD model or the Zona Tolerancia in Mexico, Amsterdam’s RLD, and understand that NYC has far more people that the above list of places that need such services.

Not just Freedom of Speech and fighting for the right to speak, but also Freedom of Life and fighting for the right to live. Well judges? Do your job as lawmakers, not jailing is good, but amendments to law need to be implemented at once to prevent wasting legal time and tax monies on non-cases like this.

Santa Ana City Council establishes a term limits committee – Posted by Art Pedroza on July 17th, 2012

Tonight’s Santa Ana City Council meeting, which was held at the SAPD’s Community Room, was, as predicted, a real zoo. Media vans and news crews were everywhere and residents and out of town bloggers packed the proceedings.

As we stated in an earlier post, Council Member Carlos Bustamante, who is facing serious felony sex crime and public theft charges, was not likely to show up, and he didn’t. This is his second unexcused absence. After sixty days of not showing up to work, at City Hall, the City Council can

dump him and appoint someone to fill out his term.

Three City Council members — Michele Martinez, Sal Tinajero and Vince Sarmiento — have called for Bustamante’s resignation, according to the L.A. Times. Predictably Bustamante’s longtime ally, David Benavides is not calling for Bustamante’s resignation. Is anyone surprised by that?

Bustamante and Benavides flew to Washington D.C. together, back in the day, to attend a Cinco de Mayo event put on by past President George W. Bush. They were pals and together they served at the whim of the Usual Suspects. Why would Benavides turn on his amigo now?

The Santa Ana City Council agreed tonight to form an Ad Hoc Committee to explore the term limit issue raised by Martinez, who placed the term limit issue on tonight’s agenda as an 85 A item. The Ad Hoc Committee will include Martinez and her colleagues Sarmiento and Benavides. They

have to get a ballot measure hammered out by the next City Council meeting if they want to make the November ballot.

As expected, the Usual Suspects showed up to rip Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, but she let them have it, and then pointed out that Councilman David Benavides “had invited speakers to address the council on the lawsuit over Measure D, while pointing our reports of attacks on her by

Benavides and Bustamante,” according to the O.C. Register. Of course we appreciated the referral!

And what is going on? Well, if the lawsuit filed by Santa Ana Parks and Rec Commissioner Max Madrid succeeds, then the Santa Ana City Clerk will be compelled by the Court to give nomination papers to Alvarez. She will then run for Ward 5 and win, period. I fully expect SAUSD Trustee

Roman Reyna to run for reelection to the SAUSD School Board rather than face off with Alvarez, who already spanked him once in a previous Council election. I am already seeing Reyna political signs around town – and they don’t mention the office he is running for. LOL! That Reyna is so

thrifty. He printed one batch of signs that he can now use for either race.

We revealed yesterday that the only announced opponent to Alvarez, Karina Onofre, has in fact become a registered Republican. She was also at tonight’s meeting, where she bragged that her Council campaign now has a billboard, somewhere on Main St. Apparently Santa Ana Council

Member Sal Tinajero met with her earlier this year and he advised her to run instead for the SAUSD School Board. He even offered to back her. But she stubbornly refused to do so and instead she dumped the Democratic Party and became a Republican. Good luck with that…

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The TLC ( term limits committee) could also double up as a ‘Family Blocs in Politics Watchdog’, and ‘Crony Capitalism Watchdog’ as well. All are ETHICS related. Try the below for China’s disciplined approach against nepotism :

Bloomberg’s Term Limits : 3 for Him, but Only 2 for Everyone Else – by MICHAEL BARBARO and DAVID W. CHEN – October 25, 2010

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg thinks that being able to serve three terms in office is a good idea — just not for anyone else. – Eric Michael Johnson for The New York Times – Louis Lanzano/Associated Press

On Monday, in an unexpected confession, Mr. Bloomberg said he wanted to reverse the changes to the city’s term-limits law, which he successfully campaigned for in 2008. Those changes are now the subject of a little-publicized ballot initiative on Election Day.

The mayor said he would vote to restore a limit of two terms, down from three, and to ban the City Council from rewriting the rule for sitting elected officials, closing a legislative loophole that Mr. Bloomberg exploited in his quest to remain in office beyond eight years. The results of the ballot

initiative would not affect Mr. Bloomberg, but would affect his successors.

During a news conference, the mayor said that the term-limits initiative, which will appear on the back of the paper ballots on Nov. 2, was imperfect and badly designed, but that he would support it anyway.

“It’s better than what we have now,” Mr. Bloomberg said, without explaining why or acknowledging that his administration had written the existing law and heavily advocated for it.

It was the latest installment in the story of Mr. Bloomberg’s ever-evolving relationship with term limits. An outspoken supporter of two terms, he once called Council members who proposed extending them “disgraceful.” Then, as his own time in office wound down, he reversed himself and

advocated for three terms, saying they offered voters greater choice.

“You can make that case for two terms or three terms,” he said at the time. “In this case, after listening to everybody, I’ve been convinced that three terms is right.”

Now he seems to have settled on something of a compromise: three terms for him, and only him.

Mayoral allies pointed out that Mr. Bloomberg had kept his word by bringing the issue back to voters, who originally passed the two-term limit in a 1993 referendum, only to watch it be dismantled by the mayor and the Council.

Mr. Bloomberg’s sudden support for two terms puts him in line with most New Yorkers. A New York Times poll, conducted in August, found that nearly three-fourths of city voters favored undoing Mr. Bloomberg’s 2008 actions.

The mayor’s change of opinion will avert a showdown with a fellow billionaire, Ronald S. Lauder, the father of the city’s original 1993 law, who has opened his wallet to sponsor a commercial urging New Yorkers to vote for a return to two terms.

The advertisement, which will be broadcast over the next few days, instructs voters — with a wry tagline — to turn over their ballots to find the term-limits question and vote yes. “Flip over the ballot,” a narrator says, “and flip off the politicians.”

MICHAEL BARBARO

Guilt by Association?

Hardly a day goes by without the two leading candidates for New York governor, Andrew M. Cuomo and Carl P. Paladino, accusing each other, either on the campaign trail or in their advertising, of being the worst kind of Albany insider.

But now, they have expanded their universe of ill repute to include the people with whom they supposedly associate, too.

In dueling advertisements that were first broadcast over the weekend, the two paint each other as being uncomfortably close with people who have run afoul of ethical and legal standards.

In his advertisement, Mr. Paladino highlights Steven L. Rattner, the financier who recently reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his role in a New York pension fund kickbacks scandal; Andrew L. Farkas, the real estate magnate; and State Senator Pedro Espada

Jr., who recently lost his bid for re-election in the Democratic primary. “Albany insider Cuomo won’t clean up Albany,” the advertisement says.

Mr. Paladino is no stranger to trying to associate Mr. Cuomo with Albany insiders whom he considers to be ethically challenged. Just before the Sept. 14 primary, in a mailer that literally smelled like a garbage dump, Mr. Paladino lumped together Gov. David A. Paterson and Representative

The ad strains credulity a bit, since Mr. Cuomo is not known for being particularly close to either Mr. Rattner or Mr. Espada. But Mr. Cuomo has had a rollercoaster of a relationship with Mr. Farkas: first as an adversary, when Mr. Cuomo was the nation’s housing secretary and investigated Mr.

Farkas for kickbacks to a landlord; then as an ally, when Mr. Cuomo got not just a job from Mr. Farkas, but also hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions.

Mr. Cuomo did not take long to hit back. In two similar advertisements released on Sunday, Mr. Cuomo criticized Mr. Paladino for surrounding himself with top campaign aides with checkered pasts. These include Michael R. Caputo, his campaign manager, who has failed to pay almost $53,000 in

federal taxes over the past few years, and John F. Haggerty Jr., a political strategist, who was indicted this summer by the Manhattan district attorney, and was accused of stealing $1.1 million from the last candidate he backed, Mr. Bloomberg.

“You can’t clean up Albany with dirty hands,” concludes the ad, which is one of the toughest ones Mr. Cuomo has released.

Mr. Caputo has said that Mr. Paladino appreciated the can-do spirit of his closest supporters, and considered them to be “junkyard dogs, not pedigreed poodles.” DAVID W. CHEN

Labour leader Ed Miliband has little to no experience of a working life outside politics

One in seven MPs have never had a proper job, according to research.

And in addition to those who have absolutely no experience of working in the real world, many more have served only brief stints as lobbyists or public relations advisers before entering politics full-time.

The study by the House of Commons Library reveals a dramatic rise in the number of so-called professional politicians, whose numbers have increased almost four-fold over the past 30 years.

Ninety MPs have never held a job outside politics, against 20 in 1982.

The trend is led by Labour, which has twice as many MPs who have never worked outside politics as either the Conservatives or Liberal Democrats.

Labour leader Ed Miliband is among those who have never had a significant job outside politics.

Instead, he served a long apprenticeship as a special adviser to Gordon Brown.

Another is Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who worked for a year as a Brussels lobbyist and dabbled for a few months in journalism before taking a job with the European Commission.

The study also reveals that working class MPs, who played a key role in the politics of the last century, have become an endangered species.

Former independent MP Martin Bell said the figures highlighted a dangerous trend, which had left modern politicians increasingly disconnected from real life.

Not alone: Ed Miliband is not the only senior Labour politician who lacks non-politics work on his CV: Both Ed Balls and his wife Yvette Cooper were journalists before entering politics

‘It is a very dangerous development,’ the former BBC war reporter said. ‘One of the effects is that there is a growing gulf between politicians and the people, the government and the governed.

‘Another damaging result of the rise of the professional politician is that we send our armed forces too war far too nonchalantly because there are very few people with any experience of armed conflict.

‘Politics has become an attractive career for some bright young things who see it as a job for life. The trouble is that it leaves them prisoners of the party machine. They know that if they are deselected they are unemployable because they have never had a proper job. That leaves them at the mercy of the whips.’

The analysis by the Commons Library shows that 90 MPs have never held a job outside politics, compared to just 20 in 1982. Of these 52 are Labour MPs, 31 are Tories and seven are Lib Dems. In total, a fifth of Labour MPs are now professional politicians, compared to a tenth of Conservatives.

Other senior Labour figures who have little experience outside politics include the Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who worked briefly as a journalist before becoming a Labour MP, and her husband, the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls, who worked as a journalist for four years before serving a decade-long apprenticeship to Gordon Brown.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg worked as a journalist and lobbyist for a brief period of time before taking a job with the European Commission

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is another with little experience outside politics, having worked for a year as a Brussels lobbyist and dabbled for a few months with journalism before taking a job with the European Commission.

David Cameron worked in a public relations role for seven years at Carlton Television before becoming an MP in 2001. But he had already cut his teeth at Westminster during several years as a Tory adviser.

Shadow Cabinet Office Minister Jon Trickett said this week that about a quarter of MPs had been ‘full-time politicos already’ before entering Parliament.

Mr Trickett said Labour was keen to recruit more working class MPs in future, saying it was ‘important that our MPs reflect all the different parts of our country’.

But the latest research reveals that working class MPs have all but disappeared from Westminster. Just 25 former manual workers were elected as MPs in 2010, compared to 98 in 1979. Almost all of them are Labour MPs.

By contrast, the number of MPs from white collar backgrounds has increased from just nine in 1979 to 84 today. The number of teachers has halved to just 24, but the number of lawyers has declined only slightly to 86.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

This is the problem with TERM LIMITLESS ‘Careerist’ political oligarchy that ends up with political satrapies that result in JFKs or Bhuttos Assassinations or Ampatuan Massacres. The fastest way to end democracy is to allow TERM LIMITLESS nepotism in government. Before the voters know, suddenly all MPs or Congressmen’s seats will be handed down to family members and democracy would have been replaced with a political feudalism no different from before the French Revolution or American War of Independence. There will be no way to displace these oligarchs and plutocrats except by violence AGAIN . . .

Anyone who writes laws that do not include term limits in government posts that allow amendments of laws (a great power that no citizen should be allowed to hold too long – too often today’s MPs and Governors or lawmakers end up withholding much needed amendments of laws – much in the manner the same term limitless types create loopholes that allow collusion with crony capitalists, Military Industrial Complex, Prison-Supplier-Contractor Complex – they keep bad laws in place to enrich this group, Education-Loan-Debt-Banker Complex etc..), or boldfacedly approves family members ‘taking over’ after themselves, give themselves ‘Parliamentary privileges’ off the people’s taxes, or wages far above the average-wage, are in effect unethical and greedy closet dictators and profiteers much like the 1%, off a flawed system.

Worse still are the deadwood of 2 generations past WITH family blocs to boot keeping the country stagnant via profiteering, outmoded legal and even outmoded Human Rights mindsets like fundamentalism or Forced Military Conscriptions, refusal to amend bad laws, with the very worst keeping APARTHEID alive, amongst other bad things ‘old school’ and careerist politicians (more so if ALSO old aged and TERM LIMITLESS and with family blocs . . .) represent and take away from the 99% of voters.

In November 2009, police officers in the state of Washington seized an iPhone belonging to suspected drug dealer Daniel Lee. While the phone was in police custody, a man named Shawn Hinton sent a text message to the device, reading, “Hey whats up dogg can you call me i need to talk to you.” Suspecting that Hinton was looking to buy drugs from Lee, Detective Kevin Sawyer replied to the message, posing as Lee. With a series of text messages, he arranged to meet Hinton in the parking lot of a local grocery store—where Hinton was arrested and charged with attempted possession of heroin.

Hinton wasn’t Sawyer’s only target. According to a court decision summing up the facts, “Sawyer spent about 5 or 10 minutes looking at some of the text messages on the iPhone; he also looked to see who had been calling. Many of the text messages that Lee’s iPhone had received and stored were from individuals who were seeking drugs from Lee.”

So Sawyer texted one of the individuals on the list and asked him if he “needed more.” The individual, Jonathan Roden, replied, “Yeah, that would be cool. I still gotta sum, but I could use some more. I prefer to just get a ball, so I’m only payin’ one eighty for it, instead of two Ts for two hundred, that way.” (The court helpfully explained that a “ball” is “a drug weight equivalent to approximately 3.5 grams.”)

But can cops legally do this with seized cell phones? When their cases went to trial, Hinton and Roden both argued that Sawyer had violated their privacy rights by intercepting, without a warrant, private communications intended for Lee.

But in a pair of decisions, one of which was recently covered by Forbes, a Washington state appeals court disagreed. If the decisions, penned by Judge Joel Penoyar and supported by one of his colleagues, are upheld on appeal, they could have far-reaching implications for cell phone privacy.
“No longer private or deserving of constitutional protection”

“There is no long history and tradition of strict legislative protection of a text message sent to, displayed, and received from its intended destination, another person’s iPhone,” Penoyar wrote in his decision. He pointed to a 1990 case in which the police seized a suspected drug dealer’s pager as an example. The officers observed which phone numbers appeared on the pager, called those numbers back, and arranged fake drug purchases with the people on the other end of the line.

A federal appeals court held that the pager owner’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure were not violated because the pager is “nothing more than a contemporary receptacle for telephone numbers,” akin to an address book. The court also held that someone who sends his phone number to a pager has no reasonable expectation of privacy because he can’t be sure that the pager will be in the hands of its owner.

Judge Penoyar said that the same reasoning applies to text messages sent to an iPhone. While text messages may be legally protected in transit, he argued that they lose privacy protections once they have been delivered to a target device in the hands of the police. He claimed that the same rule applied to letters and e-mail. (Police would still need to seize or search a phone or computer legally, and phones are much easier for cops to seize than computers, which generally require a warrant.)

“On his own iPhone, on his own computer, or in the process of electronic transit, Hinton’s communications are shielded by our constitutions,” he wrote, referring to both the state and federal constitutions. “But after their arrival, Hinton’s text messages on Lee’s iPhone were no longer private or deserving of constitutional protection.” Penoyar rejected Roden’s privacy arguments on similar grounds.

Unsettled law

Mobile phones exist in a constitutional grey area. The law has well-developed doctrines protecting the privacy of our desktop computers, landline telephones, and filing cabinets. But modern cell phones perform all of these functions, and more. If the police are free to rummage through any cell phone that falls into their hands, every arrest would automatically give the police access to a treasure trove of private data that they would otherwise need a warrant, based on probable cause, to obtain.

The Washington State decision is not unprecedented. Last year, the California Supreme Court ruled that no warrant was required for the police to peruse a cell phone that was confiscated after its owner tried to sell ecstasy to an undercover police officer. In that case, the police obtained a text message that seemed to confirm the government’s case against the suspect. Two justices of the California Supreme Court dissented from the ruling.

One judge dissented from the Washington State rulings as well. “Sawyer engaged in a continuing search when he first searched the contacts list on Daniel Lee’s iPhone to find Hinton’s phone number,” wrote Judge Marywave Van Deren in her dissent. Sawyer “used Lee’s iPhone to send and receive messages from Hinton. Under these circumstances, I would hold that Sawyer was required to obtain a search warrant.”

In a slightly different context, the Obama administration has also held that the contents of cell phones enjoy constitutional protection. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice filed a brief in a Maryland case arguing that Baltimore police had violated a man’s constitutional rights—including his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure—when they seized his phone and deleted videos he had taken of the officers’ conduct.

But this is also unethical and can cause immense economic and social harm, both of which are illegal and thus the word of the law has subsumed the spirit of the law. Law which is not whole and considers wording ONLY, above *spirit* and *intention* as well as “*due diligence* in study or consideration of the negative indirect or peripheral social and economic effects” of use of such phones, amounts to INJUSTICE. In this case only the wording of the law is adhered to. Sending texts using a seized iPhone is not legal otherwise. The Court has ruled wrongly and neglected the 3 other aspects listed above. Bad judgment!

Judge questions parents who allow their children to attend club nights
Attack comes after 13-year-old girl accused 30-year-old man of sexual assault after he gave her a lift
Bristol judge warns events pose ‘very real threat’ to youngsters

Scathing: Judge David Ticehurst questioned the motives of club organisers and parents who allowed their children to attend the events

A judge has attacked nightclubs for holding ‘kids’ nights’, warning that children who attend will be tempted to try alcohol and drugs.

Judge David Ticehurst’s scathing words came after a 13-year-old girl who attended an under-18s night made sexual assault allegations against a man who gave her a lift.

The respected judge, who sits at Bristol Crown Court, blasted nightclubs for hosting events which posed a ‘real danger’ to their young clientele.

He also called the club organisers ‘naive’ to assume youngsters would not drink at the alcohol-free events and claimed they would be more tempted to try drugs and ‘behave dangerously’.

Judge Ticehurst questioned the motives of the club organisers and parents who allow their children to attend such nights after hearing about the case of one schoolgirl.

Bristol Crown Court heard that the 13-year-old girl – who had drunk alcohol – had partied at Oceana nightclub in the city during a £10 ‘Love Social’ event aimed at under-18s.

Officers were called to look for the girl and a friend after they were reported missing at 1.30am after the event, which finished at 11pm. They were found at 5am.

Judge David Ticehurst halted the sexual assault trial, ruling that inconsistencies in evidence meant there was no case to answer against the accused 30-year-old man from Bristol.

But in making his ruling he said: ‘I want to say something about Oceana and its so-called kids’ night.

Love Social: Oceana nightclub, in Bristol, hosts under 18 nights which Judge Ticehurst said would encourage youngsters to try drink and drugs

‘That a nightclub should advertise and seek to attract children between the ages of 13 to 16 is in my view a regrettable step.

‘The club’s closing time of 11pm inevitably means that those attending will probably not be home until midnight or later.

‘. . . naive to assume that these youngsters will not drink alcohol even if it is not provided by the club.

‘ . . . naive to assume that they will not be tempted by other and more pernicious substances.

‘ . . . naive to assume that they may not be tempted to behave in a way that may be dangerous and damaging to them.’

Oceana, owned by entertainment giant Luminar, is a chain of 10 nightclubs situated around the country, with venues in cities including Leeds and Nottingham.
The Judge launched his attack after hearing details about a 13-year-old’s attendance at one of the nights, that charge youngsters £10 entry

The Judge launched his attack after hearing details about a 13-year-old’s attendance at one of the nights, that charge youngsters £10 entry

‘Love Social’ events – touted as ‘inspirational and credible clubbing’ for 13-17-year-olds – are held in numerous Luminar clubs.

Youngsters at the events can enjoy ‘the most awesome time’, with music, free soft drinks, a free cloakroom and free queue jump.

The events have a complete ban on alcohol, tobacco and gambling sales, a proof of age requirement and a strict code of conduct for staff and a child protection policy.

Teenagers who are believed to have consumed drugs or alcohol should not be allowed entry, the rules state.

But Judge Ticehurst said the events posed a ‘very real danger’ to children and said those who attended were ‘inevitably and mainly the most vulnerable’.

He added: ‘It is not difficult to imagine the type of parental support forthcoming from parents who are content that their 13, 14, 15 or even 16-year-olds should attend such a venue, whether it is in school time or holiday time.’

The judge went on to question whether the club – which charged 832 teens £10 for the event attended by the girl – was ‘doing it for the good of the children’.

He said: ‘In my judgement this case demonstrates all too readily the very real dangers of such a venue and its attractiveness to those who may need protection from themselves.’

Luminar was unavailable to comment.

A Love Social event was due to take place at the club tonight, with more planned for August, October and December.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

A list of required reading (some tests related), a ‘Night Club Maturity Test’ (NCMT) and a ‘Kid’s Licence’ should solve the issue. Parental consent is not the issue, The former is more important as even ADULTS or the aged, who fail the required reading or NCMT should be disallowed entry because the ‘adults’ have the maturity and mindset of children (read those who consistently get drunk or into fights again and again are the least matured . . . ) ! Amendment to law needed! If child has the intellectual and emotional maturity of an adult, thats an adult.

ARTICLE 6

‘I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living hell’: Teen faces jail for tweeting names of two boys who sexually assaulted HER – by Daily Mail Reporter – PUBLISHED: 21:06 GMT, 21 July 2012 | UPDATED: 13:11 GMT, 22 July 2012

A 17-year-old sexual assault victim is facing a jail sentence for tweeting the names of her attackers in anger at their light punishment.

Savannah Dietrich named and shamed the boys on the social messaging site, writing: ‘There you go, lock me up. I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell.’

The teenager told from Louisville, Kentucky told The Courier-Journal she was frustrated by what she feels is a lenient deal for her attackers.

Savannah Dietrich named and shamed the boys on the social messaging site, writing: ‘There you go, lock me up. I’m not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell’

Anger: Savannah Dietrich used a Twitter message to name and shame the boys who sexually abused her

MailOnline does not normally report the names of sexual assault victims, but Miss Dietrich and her parents say they do not want to shield her identity and want her case to be public.

The boys’ attorneys have asked a judge to hold Miss Dietrich in contempt for violating the confidentiality of a juvenile hearing and the judge’s order not to speak about it.

Miss Dietrich told the paper she was assaulted in August 2011 by two boys she knew when she passed out after drinking at a gathering. She learned months later that pictures of the assault were taken and shared with others.

‘For months, I cried myself to sleep. I couldn’t go out in public places,’ she told the newspaper, as her father and attorneys sat nearby. ‘You just sit there and wonder, who saw (the pictures), who knows?’

Miss Dietrich’s attorneys want her contempt hearing open to the media, arguing she has a First Amendment right to speak about her case and to a public hearing. The boys’ attorneys, however, have asked to keep the hearing closed.

The contempt charge carries a possible sentence of 180 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The boys pleaded guilty on June 26 to first-degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor voyeurism. Miss Dietrich says she was unaware of a plea agreement until just before it was announced in court.

She could not say what the proposed punishment was because of the court order, but said she feels like it was a slap on the wrist. The teens are to be sentenced next month, and the judge could reject or modify the terms of the proposed agreement.

Dietrich cried when the judge at the Jefferson District Court told her she couldn’t talk about what had happened

When Judge Dee McDonald admonished everyone at the hearing not to speak about what happened in court or about the crime, Dietrich said she cried.

‘They got off very easy… and they tell me to be quiet, just silencing me at the end,’ she said.

Afterwards Miss Dietrich tweeted, ‘They said I can’t talk about it or I’ll be locked up… Protect rapist is more important than getting justice for the victim in Louisville.’

David Marburger, an Ohio media law specialist, said Dietrich should have tried to get the courts to vacate the gag order rather than simply violating it.

But Gregg Leslie, interim executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Dietrich should ‘not be legally barred from talking about what happened to her. That’s a wide-ranging restraint on speech.’

Ms Leslie said this sort of issue is becoming more common.

‘In the past, people would complain to anyone who would listen, but they didn’t have a way to publish their comments where there would be a permanent record, like on Facebook and Twitter, for people to see worldwide,’ he said.

Miss Dietrich said she just needed to stand up for herself. ‘I’m at the point that if I have to go to jail for my rights, I will do it.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Mass tweet is wrong. At most and acceptable, is notice board or lamp post based poster campaigns centred around no more than perhaps a legally sanctioned 30 kms of the crime scene. A tweet reaches beyond the district and reaches the whole nation and world, making life impossible for the offenders to live new lives for what is a session of rough sex, though the emotional wounds are not really quantifiable or easy to restore. Repeat offenders though would end up with more and more ‘unliveable blacklisted areas of 30 km radiuses’. No jail for this woman though, that would be wasteful and retrogressive, though after an explanation about how a victim’s inner life destroyed by rape IS NOT justifiable or equitable for destroying the OUTER LIVES of the aggressors or related to the INNER LIVES of the aggressors which do not change even though the OUTER LIVES of the aggressors being destroyed would teach neither society not vitim nor aggressor how to behave or control themselves – an apology broadcast on the above issues should be made, the aggressors if internally unapologetic, could be put through gender sensitization courses at most.

Jail will not change anything except enrich prison contractor-supplier complex, shaming by society again makes no difference and could just create polarisation and a self righteous that becomes dangerous viciousness or self-justifying insanity, and if this socialised insanity justified upon the backs of both victim and aggressor gets into politics or mainstream society’s or even religion’s mindset, we end up with the laziness of a ‘drug everyone is a solution’ psychiatric establishment, abusing intentionally induced victims/profiteering off medications imposed by the psychiatric establishment, and increasingly punitive or materialistic based punishments (to justify the lack of forethought and consideration which 99% of the world, no thanks to anglo-legal system, have become unfeeling and fines money based, meaningless corporeal punishment and jail term obsessed systems or Orwellian control paradigm society) by magistrates and judges.’

Instead of humanization and betterment and a sincere opportunity to normalize for all parties concerned.. Victims and aggressors are victims of society, amend the laws or create niches and subcultures to ensconce all facets of personality than humanity can express (i.e. lively Red Light Districts with Rape Fetish Clubs should end the need to rape – this should be included in syllabus or citizen’s manual for social studies (i.e. if you feel like doing such and such – list the whole gamut of whatever supposedly grey area actions which might otherwise be criminal, for non-consensual activity – go to location x,y,z where some beautiful/ugly/scary/boring etc.. people will act out your fantasy for you without running afoul of the law etc..) instead of punishing and fining no end to enrich the Prison Supplier-Contractor Complex where cronies doubtless profit and kickback to the term limitless politicians . . .

Briefing Courses for victims on the above punishment paradigms and equitable consideration for the rapists like not tweeting should be given after the report. Punishment in the above case meanwhile could be a live rape scene involving the attackers being raped for the victim if the victim wants that (this is the cheapest though less pleasant quick fix punishment – courtesy of the low minded nature of the victim incidentally . . . just wanted the rapists to suffer), or the rapists could be put to work with any number of hours of work with victims of other rapists in a manner that humnizes the victims (choose people similar to the persons that the attackers are fond of, or who are family members or figures they respect, lookalikes for stars they like etc..).

Arrested: Fred Willard exposed his genitals at an adult theatre last night

Actor Fred Willard was arrested last night of lewd conduct after exposing himself at an adult movie theatre.

The 78-year-old actor was taken into custody after being caught with his pants down and genitals exposed at Hollywood’s Tiki Theatre at around 8.45pm local time.

Willard – who has been married to wife Mary for 40 years – was later cited and a mug shot was taken, police told RadarOnline, adding that he was co-operative with authorities.

He was released from custody and is set to appear in court at a later date, the website reports.

According to TMZ, LAPD officers were conducting a ‘random walk-through’ of the premises – not a raid – as part of a routine inspection.

The three films currently showing at the cinema are Follow Me 2, a X-rated parody of The Client List and Step Dad No. 2.

Willard is know for his roles in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Anchorman and Everybody Loves Raymond.

Scene of the incident: Willard was at the Tiki Theatre in Hollywood

Movie star: Seen here in the Anchorman alongside Will Ferrell

The actor portrayed the news director of the KVWN news channel in Ferrell’s 2004 movie.

In 2010 he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series after making appearances in ABC’s Modern Family.

He played the part of Frank Dunphy, Phil Dunphy’s father.

And according to IMDB, Willard is rumoured to be in pre-production for a movie called The Yank.

In 1991 Hollywood actor Pee Wee Herman was infamously arrested for indecent exposure in an adult theatre in Florida, which ruined his career as children’s entertainer.
Emmy nod: He played a guest role in Modern Family as Frank Dunphy, seen here with Sofía Vergara Ed O’Neill

Married man: The actor has been married to wife Mary for 40 years

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The inside of any adult venues could well be considered ‘nudism allowed zones’ though the theatre could state that patrons should expect or that nude or semi-nude persons could be present. The same could be applied to red light districts as well. Allowed Nudism areas and non-Nudism areas INSIDE red light districts. What is the management’s view? Nakedness or semi-nakedness in a adult theatre may be in line with common sense, though a non-nudist version of the same adult venue should also exist.

Tied up dog in bathroom for four hours after it misbehaved
Returned at 3am and attacked the dog for relieving itself on the carpet
Diagnosed with schizophrenia after the episode
James Bray said he might have been ‘out of his depth’

Callous: James Bray looked unrepentant at Southend Magistrates’ Court today, where he was jailed for animal cruelty

A cannabis-smoking dog owner who killed his pet by throwing it out of a tenth floor window to ‘teach it a lesson’ has been jailed.

Sick James Bray, 24, launched his eight-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, Deano, from his flat in Southend, Essex, after it made a mess on his carpet.

The innocent dog suffered multiple injuries and died as a result of extensive internal bleeding following the tragic incident on January 18 this year.

Bray made a rude gesture at the cameras as he arrived at Southend Magistrates Court today, wearing a short-sleeved white shirt and looked emotionless as lead magistrate Bill Thomas sentenced him to four months in prison.

The court heard how callous Bray tied up his dog in the bathroom of his flat for four hours after it had misbehaved.

When he returned to untie the dog at around 3am he found it had weed on the carpet.

He flew into a blind rage and attacked the dog before throwing it from the tenth-floor window.

Man pleads guilty to owning a dangerous dog after horrific attack by two crazed bull terriers which left TEN people injured and three needing plastic surgery

Bray called the police after launching his dog from the window and stunned officers by confessing to the sickening assault.

In police interview he told shocked officers: ‘It was a really good shot – I launched him by the scruff of his neck and he bounced off the window and went down.

Long way to fall: Bray launched the dog out of his flat window at 3am, having left the dog tied up fro four hours after smoking a cannabis joint

‘I don’t know what came over me – it must be some kind of evil in this world.’

Bray admitted to police he had smoked a two-inch cannabis joint on the evening of the attack but said he still completely understood that what he was doing would kill his pet.

He told bemused officers: ‘I was trying to teach it a lesson’.

This is a matter which will undoubtedly provoke public outrage. My client has put forward no attempt to excuse his behaviour and accepts what he has done was an evil thing to do.

– PAUL MARKHAM, DEFENCE

The heartless thug even tried to escape charges by claiming he had attacked the dog in self-defence after it had bitten him on the foot.

Police could not find any evidence the dog had attacked Bray.

Bray – who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was sectioned following the sickening attack – pleaded guilty to three charges of animal cruelty when he appeared at the same court in May. 2012

Paul Markham, defending, described the situation as ‘tragic’ but called on magistrates to consider a suspended jail sentence due to his client’s early guilty plea.

He said: ‘This is a matter which will undoubtedly provoke public outrage.

‘My client has put forward no attempt to excuse his behaviour and accepts what he has done was an evil thing to do.’

Magistrates refused to accept Bray’s defence and handed him the maximum sentence available for an animal cruelty offence.

Lead magistrate Bill Thomas said: ‘This is a horrendous incident which caused the death of a dog.

‘There is no evidence this was caused by your mental illness and must be dealt with on the merits of the case.’

He sentenced Bray to the maximum six months’ imprisonment – reduced by two months in recognition of his early guilty plea.

Bray was ordered to pay £500 costs to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and was disqualified from owning or keeping a pet for life.

He said: ‘I hope this sentence acts as a strong deterrent to show that any cruelty to animals will not be tolerated.

‘I think, given the mental health issues involved, the magistrates worked well within the guidelines.

‘It would be appreciated if the sentences made available to magistrates for these offences were harsher.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Cetaceans and Ruminants are no less intelligent than dogs, but when killed do not result in punishment. Other than ‘falling objects danger to passers by’ issue, if JB had killed and cooked the animal, would there have been an issue? If the animal was a ruminant then what? Only Bray didn’t cook the meat or cull humanely so the above line of thought does not apply . . .

Still, the jail term as punishment at cost to the taxpayers is wrong. And if no damage was done other than causing the public to be ‘psychically shocked’ (for the more sensitive at any rate – who could in the future be scanned for such sensitivity and insensitivity so that incongrous people could live away from each other), perhaps a more suitable ‘fine’ could be requiring Bray to relocate if this is likely to keep happening, or work at an animal shelter to accrue sufficient ‘warm feelings’from animals to exhonerate himself from his fellow horrified flat dwellers. Jail at cost to the taxpayers is entirely unrelated and helps nothing in teaching about animals and how to toilet train the same. Insult upon injury and not just against Bray, but against the taxpayers! Bad judgment!

ARTICLE 9

Memories Selectively, Safely Erased In Mice

ScienceDaily (Oct. 23, 2008) — Targeted memory erasure is no longer limited to the realm of science fiction. A new study describes a method through which a selected set of memories can be rapidly and specifically erased from the mouse brain in a controlled and inducible manner. New and old memories have been selectively and safely removed from mice by scientists.

“While memories are great teachers and obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives,” says Dr. Joe Z. Tsien, brain scientist and co-director of the Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine.

“Our work reveals a molecular mechanism of how that can be done quickly and without doing damage to brain cells,” says the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cognitive and Systems Neurobiology.

Dr. Tsien’s research team, in collaboration with scientists at East China Normal University in Shanghai, were able to eliminate new and old memories alike by over-expressing a protein critical to brain cell communication just as the memory was recalled, according to research featured on the cover of the Oct. 23 issue of Neuron.

Dr. Tsien had already created a mouse that couldn’t form memories by eliminating the NMDA receptor, which receives messages from other neurons. He then garnered international acclaim by making “Doogie,” a smart mouse in which a subunit of the NMDA receptor is over-expressed. Younger brains have higher amounts of this NR2B subunit which leaves communication channels between brain cells open longer. That is why young people can learn faster than older adults.

This time he was examining downstream cascades of the NMDA receptor to learn more about memory formation. An abundant protein found only in the brain, called αCaMKII, was a logical place to look because it’s a major signaling molecule for the NMDA receptor. He found that when he over-expressed αCaMKII while a memory was being recalled, that single memory was eliminated.

Receptors such as the NMDA receptor are like front doors to cells, providing an opening for signaling molecules such as calcium. Synapses are the point of communication between two cells, and NMDA receptors are on the receiving end of the message. Like people, neurons change with the signals they receive. “Learning changes the way cells connect to each other,” says Dr. Tsien. To form a memory, the NMDA receptor is activated, which results in the insertion of AMPA receptors into those synapses and subsequent strengthening of the synaptic connections among hundreds of thousands of neurons. Scientists believe that αCaMKII plays an important role in the insertion of AMPA receptors into synapses during learning and subsequent strengthening of connections between neurons to create a memory.

Memory has four distinct stages: learning, consolidation, storage and recall. It has been difficult to dissect the molecular mechanisms of these stages because researchers lacked techniques to manipulate proteins quickly. For example, when researchers disable a gene suspected to play a role in the memory process, the deletion typically occurred throughout the entire period so it was impossible to tell which parts of processes were impaired. Previous technology would take several days to switch off a protein, which is the product of a gene.

So Dr. Tsien’s team developed a powerful chemical-genetic method that allows him to use a pharmacologic inhibitor to instantly turn αCaMKII off and on in a mouse that he genetically engineered to over express this signaling molecule. That enabled him to study exactly what happened if he threw off the natural balance during the retrieval stage.

Much as a war veteran remembers a fateful patrol when he was fired upon, mice can establish a very long-lasting emotional memory about a place if, for example, they receive a mild shock to the paws while there. The researchers showed if they over-expressed αCaMKII, this powerful memory was rapidly erased as the animals tried to retrieve them while other memories remained intact.

A similar approach was taken with object recognition memory, giving mice a couple of toys to play with then erasing their memory of one of them. “You will feel like every time, it’s a new toy,” says Dr. Tsien.

While the ability to rapidly erase a selective memory is exciting, he cautions that its translation to humans would be difficult at this stage. “We are barely at the foot of a huge mountain,” says Dr. Tsien. A possible strategy for humans would be a drug that mimics the αCaMKII over expression that researchers accomplished through genetic manipulation. Or, further downstream substrates that αCaMKII acts upon could become possible drug targets.

The research was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Aging and the Georgia Research Alliance.

Abstract : It has been demonstrated that electron beam exposure produces retrograde amnesia (RA). RA production was evaluated using a single trial avoidance task across a 10,000 dose range for 10 microseconds, 1 microsecond, and 0.1 microseconds pulsed exposures. The dose-response curve obtained at each pulse duration showed significant RA production. The most effective dose range was 0.1-10 rads at a dose rate of 1 million rad/sec. Our conclusion was that the RA effect might be due to sensory system activation which provided a novel stimulus that masked previous stimuli (produced RA).

Can so-called “flashlight” weapons really make you vomit? Or send you into an epileptic fit? I have a feature in New Scientist on non-lethal strobe devices — new arms, relying on flashing lights, like the “LED Incapacitator,” Peak Beam’s searchlight-based “Immobilization Device,” and Nanohmics’ non-pyrotechnic stun grenade. There is a great deal of debate over how well these devices work and what their effects are. That’s because the military’s tests have traditionally been more concerned with environmental health. But now, the military is sponsoring a whole range of tests which go well beyond previous studies. In the meantime, there are some myths we can clear up pretty quickly:

“It makes you vomit,” as popularized in by Fox News’ story, Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up. Although disorientation, dizziness and nausea were quoted by all the designers as common effects, nausea is not the same as throwing up.

“I don’t think we’ve had anyone actually be sick”, says Bob Lieberman, CEO of Intelligent Optics, which makes the LED Incapacitator. In fact, nausea is not one of the immediate effects, but is more likely to occur afterwards – it doesn’t really contribute to the weapon’s effectiveness. Lieberman is philosophical about the ‘puke saber’ stories which are passed around the media, judging that the exposure is worth it. “We’re grateful that people have taken such an interest,” he says.

“It’ll make you have an epileptic fit.” People with photosensitive epilepsy (around four per thousand of the population) may have seizures triggered by flashing lights. But it turns out that the frequencies which trigger seizures can be avoided.

“Our products are engineered around this situation as to not endanger people with this condition,” says Will Harcourt, Peak Beam’s Director of Sales. Prof. Ley Sander, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Epilepsy at the Institute of Neurology of University College London, says that strobe devices are not be a risk to photosensitive epileptics if they have a pulse rate above 25 Hz.

MYTH : “If you shut your eyes it makes the weapon useless.” This one amuses everyone working in the field. If you close your eyes you can’t run away, you can’t fight back, aim a weapon or effectively resist arrest. You have immobilized yourself and made yourself helpless, which is exactly what the non-lethal weapon-makers have in mind. “If they close their eyes,” says Lieberman, “then I’ve got ‘em.”

He sees the LED Incapacitator as being close to the lowest rung of the ladder of force. It may not subdue a suspect every time, but even if it is effective some of the time and prevents officers from having to use a Taser or a firearm then it will be well worthwhile.

The new generation of strobe devices are lightweight, cheap and have an unlimited supply of ammo. Within a few years they could be everywhere – small ones in the hands of police, larger versions mounted on vehicles or drones. The Peak Beam Immobilizer is being mounted on the Vigilante, an unmanned helicopter. “Testing has also been conducted on our strobe against on-coming vehicles. [The testing organization] rated our Maxa Beam as the most effective non-lethal weapon against drivers that they have ever tested,” says Harcourt.

If they work as advertised, this could be the biggest advance in non-lethals since tear gas.

ARTICLE 11

DOJ to Colorado Family: Give Up Your Religion or Your Business – by Terence P. Jeffrey – July 26, 2012

(CNSNews.com) – The Justice Department last week presented the Newland family of Colorado–who own Hercules Industries, a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business–with what amounted to an ultimatum: Give up your religion or your business.

“Hercules Industries has ‘made no showing of a religious belief which requires that [it] engage in the [HVAC] business,” the Justice Department said in a formal filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

In response to the Justice Department’s argument that the Newlands can either give up practicing their religion or give up owning their business, the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the family, said in a reply brief: “[T]o the extent the government is arguing that its mandate does not really burden the Newlands because they are free to abandon their jobs, their livelihoods, and their property so that others can take over Hercules and comply, this expulsion from business would be an extreme form of government burden.”

Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and its mandate that individuals must buy health insurance, this suit which seeks to protect a small business from being forced to take actions that violate the moral and religious beliefs of the family that owns it is likely to be the next major court battle over Obamacare.

At stake is whether businesses are protected by the First Amendment—the part of the Bill of Rights that guarantees not only the free exercise of religion but also freedom of speech and of the press.

The Justice Department’s filing was made in Newland v. Sebelius–a suit brought by William, Paul and James Newland, and their sister, Christine Ketterhagen, who are Roman Catholics, and who together own Colorado-based Hercules Industries.

The Newland family founded Hercules in 1962 and have maintained it as a family-owned business ever since—growing it to the point where they now employ 265 people.

The Newlands’ lawsuit challenges a regulation that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius finalized earlier this year that requires virtually all health plans to cover–without cost-sharing–sterilizations and all Food-and-Drug Administration approved contraceptives, including those that induce abortions.

Under the Obamacare law, businesses that have more than 50 employees must provide health insurance to their employees or face a penalty. To satisfy the mandate, the insurance must include the cost-sharing-free sterilization-contraception-abortifacient benefit. The regulation takes effect on Aug. 1, which means that as soon as any business starts a new plan-year for its health-insurance program after that date it will need to comply with Sebelius’s rule.

The Catholic Church, to which the Newlands belong, teaches that sterilization, contraception and abortion are intrinsically immoral. Last month, the Catholic bishops of the United States unanimously adopted a statement declaring Sebelius’s regulation an “unjust and illegal mandate” and a “violation of personal civil rights.”

While much of the media attention on Sebelius’ regulation has focused on the fact that it will apply to famous Catholic religious institutions such as Catholic University and the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic bishops have repeatedly pointed out that the regulation also violates the First Amendment-protected religious liberty of lay Catholic individuals. That includes employees who will be forced to pay insurance premiums on insurance plans that violate the teachings of their faith and business owners who will be forced to provide such plans.

In their unanimous statement, the Catholic bishops declared that Sebelius’s regulation created a class of Americans “with no conscience protection at all: individuals who, in their daily lives, strive constantly to act in accordance with their faith and moral values. They, too, face a government mandate to aid in providing ‘services’ contrary to those values—whether in their sponsoring of, and payment for, insurance as employers; their payment of insurance premiums as employees; or as insurers themselves—without even the semblance of an exemption.”

The Newlands currently run a self-insurance plan, providing their employees with generous health-care coverage that is consistent with the teachings of the Newlands’ church in that it does not cover sterilizations, contraception and abortifacients. They are precisely among the class of people that the unanimous Catholic bishops said have “no conscience protection at all” under Sebelius’s regulation.

In their complaint against the Obama administration, which was prepared by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the Newlands clearly explained why they could not comply with Sebelius’s regulation without violating their religious faith.

“The Newlands sincerely believe that the Catholic faith does not allow them to violate Catholic religious and moral teachings in their decisions operating Hercules Industries,” says the complaint. “They believe that according to the Catholic faith their operation of Hercules must be guided by ethical social principles and Catholic religious and moral teachings, that the adherence of their business practice according to such Catholic ethics and religious and moral teachings is a genuine calling from God, that their Catholic faith prohibits them to sever their religious beliefs from their daily business practice, and that their Catholic faith requires them to integrate the gifts of the spiritual life, the virtues, morals, and ethical social principles of Catholic teaching into their life and work.”

“The Catholic Church teaches that abortifacient drugs, contraception and sterilization are intrinsic evils,” says the complaint. “As a matter of religious faith the Newlands believe that those Catholic teachings are among the religious ethical teachings they must follow throughout their lives including in their business practice.”

The Justice Department responded by arguing that if the Newlands’ Roman Catholic faith prevented them from following the Obama administration’s command that they provide their employees with cost-sharing-free coverage for sterilizations, contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, the Newlands could simply give up their business entirely.

The Justice Department further argued that people owning for-profit secular businesses do not have a First Amendment right to the free exercise religion in the way they conduct their businesses—particularly if their business is incorporated.

“Here, plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that the preventive services coverage regulations substantially burden their religious exercise,” the Justice Department told the court. “Hercules Industries, Inc., is not a religious employer; it is ‘an HVAC manufacturer.’”

“The First Amendment Complaint does not allege that the company is affiliated with a formally religious entity such as a church,” the Justice Department told the federal court. “Nor does it allege that the company employs persons of a particular faith. In short, Hercules Industries is plainly a for-profit, secular employer.”

“By definition,” the Justice Department claimed, “a secular employer does not engage in any ‘exercise of religion.’”

“Hercules Industries has ‘made no showing of a religious belief which requires that [it] engage in the [HVAC] business,” DOJ told the court. “Any burden is therefore caused by the company’s choice to enter into a commercial activity.”

In its brief responding to the Justice Department on behalf of the Newland family, the Alliance Defending Freedom forcefully rebutted the claim that the First Amendment does not apply to corporations let alone to family-owned businesses.

“The government argues that the Newlands forfeited their right to religious liberty as soon as they endeavored to earn their living by running a corporation,” said the Newlands’ brief.

“Nothing in the Constitution, the Supreme Court’s decisions, or federal law requires—or even suggests—that families forfeit their religious liberty protection when they try to earn a living, such as by operating a corporate business,” they argued.

If the Obama administration’s understanding of the First Amendment were accepted, argued the Alliance Defending Freedom’s brief, the media would have no rights either.

“The government’s exclusionary attitude would push religion out of every sphere of life except the four wall of a church,” they said in their brief. “If for-profit corporations have no First Amendment ‘purpose,’ newspapers and other media would have no rights.”

If they refuse to sell their businesses, families like the Newlands are trapped by the Sebelius regulation. They can stop providing health insurance to themselves and their employees through the business, but then they and their employees would still be required, under Obamacare’s individual mandate, to buy health insurance, and under the Sebelius regulation all the health insurance plans they would be able to buy would still be required to cover sterilizations, contraception and abortion-inducing drugs. Their premiums would then contribute to those “services,” and the business owners would still be required to pay a penalty to the government of about $2,000 per year for each employee they did not insure.

If businesses like the Newlands’ try to simply flout the Sebelius regulation and continue providing insurance to their workers that does not cover the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient benefits that the Obama administration demands, they will be hit with confiscatory financial penalties.

“PPACA also imposes monetary penalties if Hercules were to continue to offer its self-insured plan but continued omitting abortifacients, contraceptive and sterilizations,” said the Newlands’ complaint. “The exact magnitude of these penalties may vary according to the complicated provisions of PPACA, but the fine is approximately $100 per day per employee, with minimum amounts applying in different circumstances.

With 265 employees, a business like the Newlands’ would need to pay the government $26,500 per day if they decided not to comply with Sebelius’s regulation and insured their employees anyway. Over 365 days that would amount to $9,672,500.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The spiritual implications of using the name ‘Hercules’ and the unbalancing effect on the ether is the issue. Nothing else. Xians and other Monotheists though, are now infamous for this form of spiritually manipulative NLP method of ‘binding’ (abused in conjunction with the above ‘neurotech’), and USA being religion neutral has chosen to act to prevent any untoward incidents which could arise from use of the Grecian Pantheon’s gods’ name, a sort of ‘national faith system’, Cosmic copyright and right to exist issue is at hand here. No laws cover this so they are making do with the above. USA is much cleverer that the pretentious wanting to paint the USA as oppressive of religion or keep the ordinary occult unschooled people unaware of the deeper implications.

This is necessary or any untoward incidents in the future could also occur. That energy belongs to the original owner, NOT a machine. The extrication process of the ‘bound’ will not be as easy though USA’s ‘Augurs’ are probably the best in the world. The physical dimension of Earth is what we are allowed to see, being poisoned by vaccinnations to enable the ‘powerful’ to control the rest, but of late issue like the above are becoming increasingly intolerable and even vaccinations could be illegal. Other dimension wise any and all men are allowed to participate but with the above issues, the SPIRITUAL ABUSE of ordinary citizens in unbelievable as of now. See below article 12 for how only part of the truth is preached by cynical hierarchies of ‘religious’ who want to continue parasiting off the ordinary man . . .

ARTICLE 12

U.S. Bishops Prepare Catholics for Civil Disobedience: ‘We May Need to Witness to the Truth by Resisting the Law’ by Terence P. Jeffrey May 27, 2012

(CNSNews.com) – Having organized 43 plaintiffs—including the archdioceses of New York and Washington and the University of Notre Dame—to file 12 different lawsuits against the Obama administration last Monday alleging the administration is violating the religious freedom of Catholics, the Catholic bishops of the United States are now preparing Catholics for what may be the most massive campaign of civil disobedience in this country since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and early 1960s.

“Some unjust laws impose such injustices on individuals and organizations that disobeying the laws may be justified,” the bishops state in a document developed to be inserted into church bulletins in Catholic parishes around the country in June.

“Every effort must be made to repeal them,” the bishops say in the document, which is already posted on the website of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “When fundamental human goods, such as the right of conscience, are at stake, we may need to witness to the truth by resisting the law and incurring its penalties.”

The bulletin insert reminds Catholic parishioners that the bishops have called for “A Fortnight of Freedom”—which they have described as “a special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action”—to take place from June 21 to July 4.

St. Thomas More

The bishops have noted that June 21, when this fortnight will begin, is the Vigil of the Feast of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More. Fisher was a Roman Catholic cardinal whom the English monarch Henry VIII beheaded in 1535 after he refused to act against his conscience and take an oath asserting that Henry was the supreme authority over the church in England. That same year, Henry VIII also beheaded Thomas More, his former chancellor, for the same reason.

The sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate is set to go into effect for most health-care plans on Aug. 1, about four weeks after the bishops’ “Fortnight of Freedom.”

In campaign speeches delivered this week after the Catholic dioceses and organizations filed their 12 lawsuits, both President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama indicated that the administration intends to move forward and enforce the mandate.

Mrs. Obama brought it up in a stump speech in Cleveland on Monday afternoon, less than three hours after the Catholic bishops had announced their lawsuits.

“You can tell people how, because we passed health reform, insurance companies will now have to cover preventive care–have to,” said Mrs. Obama. “Things like contraception, cancer screenings, prenatal care–and they have to do it at no extra cost. People have to understand that’s what that fight was for.”

President Obama signaled his personal commitment to enforcing the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate, using virtually identical language about it in back-to-back campaign speeches Wednesday and Thursday in California and Iowa.

“We don’t need another political fight about ending a woman’s right to choose, or getting rid of Planned Parenthood or taking away affordable birth control,” Obama said. “We don’t need that. I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same economic opportunities as my sons. We’re not turning back the clock. We’re not going back there.”

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The bulletin insert the bishops have prepared to distribute in parishes around the country in June specifically references the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was imprisoned in Birmingham, Ala., on Good Friday 1963 for marching without a permit to protest the racist segregation laws enforced in Alabama in that period.

While detained, King, who was a Baptist minister, wrote his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” in which he said the moral justification for civil disobedience against Alabama’s segregation laws was derived from the writings of the Roman Catholic saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

“During the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, Americans shone the light of the Gospel on a dark history of slavery, segregation, and racial bigotry,” the Catholic bishops say in their bulletin insert. “The civil rights movement was an essentially religious movement, a call to awaken consciences.

“In his famous ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ in 1963,” the bishops says, “Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. boldly said, ‘The goal of America is freedom.’ As a Christian pastor, he argued that to call America to the full measure of that freedom was the specific contribution Christians are obliged to make. He rooted his legal and constitutional arguments about justice in the long Christian tradition: ‘I would agree with Saint Augustine that ‘An unjust law is no law at all.’… A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.’”

The bishops have argued that elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—AKA Obamacare—including the so-called “preventive services” mandate, would force faithful Catholics to act against their consciences and the teachings of their church. The mandate requires that virtually all health-care plans in the United States cover, without any fees or co-pay, sterilizations and all Food and Drug Administration-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions.

The bishops also object to the manner in which Obamacare deals with abortion generally. In April, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a background paper explaining how Obamacare not only would use tax dollars to fund abortions but would also force Americans to pay for abortions with the premiums they would pay to purchase health insurance—which under Obamacare they are mandated to do. The backgrounder was titled, “The New Federal Regulation on Coerced Abortion Payments.”

Additionally, the bishops object to the so-called “religious” exemption to the mandate that requires all health-care plans cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortifacients. That exemption only applies to “religious” organizations that are primarily focused on inculcating religious tenets and that serve and employ primarily members of their own denomination. This “religious” exemption would not extend to Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, and charitable organizations—and, the bishops argue, it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by empowering federal bureaucrats to determine which religious institutions are truly “religious” and which ones are not.

In their bulletin insert, the bishops unequivocally state that the administration’s sterilization-contraception-abortifacient mandate would force people to act against their consciences.

“This is a matter of whether religious people and institutions may be forced by the government to provide such coverage even when it violates our consciences,” say the bishops.

“What we ask is nothing more than the right to follow our consciences as we live out our teaching,” they say.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius first announced the sterilization-contraception-abortifacient regulation last August. At that time, the bishops submitted formal comments to HHS, calling the regulation an “unprecedented attack on religious liberty” and asking the administration to rescind it in its entirety.

After Sebelius finalized the regulation in January, many Catholic bishops around the country asked their priests to read a letter from the pulpit at Sunday Masses that said: “We cannot–we will not–comply with this unjust law.”

Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who leads the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services wrote a letter that he asked all Catholic chaplains to read at Sunday masses at U.S. military facilities across the globe. Broglio’s letter not only said “we will not” comply with the law, it also said: “It is a blow to a freedom that you have fought to defend and for which you have seen your buddies fall in battle.”

As reported by CNSNews.com, the Army told Army chaplains not to read this letter in Mass, a move that Archdiocese for the Military Services described as a violation of the First Amendment rights of Archbishop Broglio and Catholic chaplains.

In the April backgrounder, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop said that another regulation issued by the Obama administration in March of this year confirmed what the bishops had said about Obamacare when it was up for a vote in 2010 and they opposed its passage.

“While some have misunderstood or misrepresented the Act’s role in funding abortions, the new rule confirms that analyses by the Catholic bishops’ conference were accurate on this point,” said the backgrounder.

“Under this Act,” it says, “millions of American taxpayers will be forced to help support abortion coverage, in two ways: (1) Through their tax dollars all taxpayers will be forced to subsidize overall health plans that cover elective abortions, contrary to the policy of the Hyde amendment and every other major federal program, and (2) Many of these Americans will also be forced to pay directly for other people’s abortions. Some will say this is technically not ‘tax funding of abortions,’ because the required surcharge will be a premium payment rather than a tax payment as such. But what the payment is called is less important than what it actually does.”

The day after releasing this analysis, the bishops issued “A Statement on Religious Liberty,” that explained the Catholic belief that “an unjust law cannot be obeyed” and called for Catholics to join in what the bishops called “A Fortnight of Freedom” that will run from June 21 to July 4.

St. John Fisher

June 21, the bishops pointed out, is the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More.

“We suggest that the fourteen days from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More—to July 4, Independence Day, be dedicated to this ‘fortnight for freedom’—a great hymn of prayer for our country,” said the bishops.

“Our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John Fisher and St. Thomas More, St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome,” said the bishops. “Culminating on Independence Day, this special period of prayer, study, catechesis, and public action would emphasize both our Christian and American heritage of liberty.”

“It is a sobering thing to contemplate our government enacting an unjust law,” the bishops said. “An unjust law cannot be obeyed. In the face of an unjust law, an accommodation is not to be sought, especially by resorting to equivocal words and deceptive practices. If we face today the prospect of unjust laws, then Catholics in America, in solidarity with our fellow citizens, must have the courage not to obey them. No American desires this. No Catholic welcomes it. But if it should fall upon us, we must discharge it as a duty of citizenship and an obligation of faith.”

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

The ‘miracles’ that religious organisations cause or inflict are ALL technology based. Ailments and cures are all inflicted at the whim and fancy of the faith or in the worse cases by family members etc. to somehow sequester naturally occurring spiritual energy of all persons not of the 1% and their cronies. technology has reached a very different stage now, and if we are not careful, this combined with the above technology will result in Techno/Spirit0-Facism from which none will ever know freedom from.

“New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told CNN’s Piers Morgan last night that he doesn’t “understand why police officers across this country don’t stand up collectively and say we’re going to go on strike, we’re not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what’s required to keep us safe.”

We’ve been hearing a lot of that recently. Earlier this year, The New York Times reprinted a Department of Justice press release and slapped this lead on top of it: “As violent crime has decreased across the country, a disturbing trend has emerged: Rising numbers of police officers are being killed.”

Bloomberg and The New York Times are both wrong:

In 2008, ten times more civilians regular people were killed by cops than cops were killed by perps.
In 2011, 72 cops were shot and killed in the entire U.S.; in L.A. County alone, cops shot and killed 54 suspects the same year–22 percent of those people were unarmed.
As Scott Reeder reported at Reason this morning, “Farmers, ranchers, commercial fishermen, loggers, garbage collectors, truck drivers, construction workers, pilots, steel workers, roofers, and others are far more likely to face death on the jobs than police or firefighters, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
And as Choire Sicha wrote earlier this year, “2008 was the ten-year low for police officers being killed, and 2012 is, so far, year-to-date, down 49% from last year.”

Bloomberg, the commander of “the seventh biggest army in the world” went on to say that “police officers want to go home to their families. And we’re doing everything we can to make their job more difficult, but more importantly, more dangerous, by leaving guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and letting people who have those guns buy things like armor piercing bullets.”

The statistics say that the jobs of police officers are getting increasingly safer. After all, even the smallest departments now have access to battle-tested body armor, weaponry, vehicles, and unmanned drones; SWAT and raid training courtesy of outfits like Academi (the company formerly known as Blackwater now trains officers “who conduct warrant service, fugitive apprehension, SWAT operations and drug search warrants who are in need of sound tactics and techniques”); asset forfeiture funds from the Department of Justice; and a neutered-and-spayed 4th Amendment, courtesy of the United States Supreme Court.

Thanks to all of that, cops are more likely than ever to return safely to their families every night.” (1)

Bloomberg has become a raving mindless mouth, beset with verbal diarrhea that has never been connected to sentient thought in any meaningful way. And in this he has finally outdone himself in the smugness of his attitudes and the shape of his contempt for the American-public which he so fervently embraces.

The very idea that Bloomberg can safely suggest that the public he wants to kill can be blackmailed into surrendering the only reality that still stands between the criminal-state and mass murder – is an obscenity that should have choked off his words and yet he speaks of this as if it is a foregone conclusion. A ‘fact’ that of course the brain-dead will bow down to kiss his filthy ass, at the mere mention of this final insult from a formerly failed candidate for the presidency. Despicable is far too tame a term, for this member of the minor-elite who believes in both his infallibility and his personal entitlement to speak of such things as though they MUST come to pass—just because he said them, for the world to hear.

The truth is that the compact between those publicly-employed officers who wear a badge in this country do not represent any protection for the people they supposedly serve—rather they have become our unacknowledged judges, juries and executioners for the fear and paranoid tendencies of this unelected mob that rules by rumors and terror over a herd of mindless fools that have no idea of who their enemies truly are within the final hours of this failed state.

Much has been made of our inability to understand anything—yet everything that lives knows instinctively whenever life is threatened—except for twenty-first century members of the herd that still refuse to choose either life or death, in what remains of their pathetic lives.

“But what about the rest of us? What about Kelly Thomas, who screamed for his father while five cops beat him to death? Or Patricia Cook, shot to death by a deranged alcoholic with a badge? Or Andrew Scott, killed during a wrong-door raid? Or Nick Christie, gagged and pepper-sprayed to death by prison guards? Or Seth Adams, shot four times by a cop behind his family business, then left to die? Or Wendell Allen, who was unarmed when a New Orleans cop shot and killed him during a raid? Or Ramarley Graham, the 18-year-old New Yorker shot and killed by plainclothes cops for trying to flush a small bag of marijuana down the toilet? Or Kyle Miller, killed by Colorado police for waving a BB gun in the air? Or Todd Blair, killed by Utah police for raising a golf club above his head?

That’s a smattering of names from the last year or so. A complete list is impossible; though you could spend months culling names from local media outlets. It would be significantly longer if we included people who were shot, but didn’t die; or people who were just shot at by cops. It would be exponentially longer if we included people who were beaten, intimidated, wrongly arrested/incarcerated, or otherwise abused by police officers.

Didn’t these folks want to go home to their families? Didn’t they want to be safe when they were in their homes with their families?

They didn’t get memorials. Their hometowns didn’t shut down traffic for their funerals. The mayor didn’t speak at their prayer vigil, if they had a prayer vigil. Their congressmen did not speechify about them on C-SPAN. No one proposed laws in their honor. No city or state official called for a national conversation about anything.

In most cases, here’s what happened, and often happens: Cops who kill get a paid vacation, and the local district attorney, or state attorney determines that protocol was followed. The cop comes back with a tan and a mandate. A big ugly shrug is standard operating procedure.

Bloomberg fails to note that any of those people carrying badges now are even remotely restricted by any laws, when it comes to the way in which this nation is policed. Our ‘cops’ kill more of the public than all the criminal elements could ever do—and are rewarded with paid vacations instead of investigations that always find that these ‘officers’ followed a non-existent protocol wherein no one can ever be charged with any crime if the police are even remotely involved in any torture, harassment or murder of those they were supposedly created to protect, from the government as well as from other criminals. And now this insult beyond injury comes from an arrogant Zionist who is supposedly entitled to dictate to one and all because he is a proud member of the filthy-rich with a microphone.

Whether uniformed or undercover, thugs are not immune to the same laws that the rest of us are supposed to obey—in fact if anything because they wear life & death on both hips, they should be held to higher standards than the public they supposedly serve. The public has a right to be respected by those that carry any badge—instead the public have become nothing but half-dead-fish in a barrel which the cops choose to use and abuse as targets for their idle minds whenever they feel like killing people. Now they have decided that they no longer need to warn the public before they chose to shoot anyone to death—”IF THEY feel threatened in any way.”

The herd may be too terrified to respond as they should, but gun-owners are about to weigh in on this abusive and un-constitutional policy of disarming the public: When this happens a lot of these so-called cops will die, along with some very high-profile insiders and then the entire situation will be reversed: To finally reflect the natural balance that has been completely destroyed in the New Millennium.

All of this will come to pass, because nature will not tolerate the imbalance and neither will the world wherein all of these obscenities are being practiced. There are real limits even and especially upon massive criminality—but nothing will ever change until those who have been guilty of so much for so long will become the very public victims of their own twisted global-designs.

When the cops have to live as we do, in fear of their doors being broken down, and their houses being torn apart, while evidence is planted, and their cherished friends and families are ‘judged’ by total strangers – only then will anything change. The one-sidedness of this war upon America will very soon be challenged because the public still has the right to arm itself according to the kinds of threats we all face each and every day in the world, right now. The same people that would willing ‘unconditionally surrender’ to the real enemies they have faced now for the last fifty-plus years have no part to play in this. Most of the people being threatened now are nothing but ROAD-KILL anyhow—and can never have an impact on their own futures.

But the rest of us will resist, each in our own way, when the time comes—and until then life will continue to degenerate into the chaos of oblivion as we have already begun to ‘circle-the-drains’ of the open-sewers that were once optional, but which have now become actual destinations for far too many of the targeted classes of people that will fall willingly into this global-trap that still waits for the unwary in a world made deadly by the supposed powers-that-want-to-be-the leaders in a criminal Empire that is already on the verge of self-immolation.

If we get to that place where there is more blood-in-the-streets, then it won’t be long before some of that blood will come from those calling for the immediate of end of lives and everything else that so many actually spent their entire lives trying to create…

Jim Kirwan

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Watch Robocop 3 and study the intentional manner government causes an area to become unlivable and then sweep in to buy up the mess with business with links perhaps to criminal cartels. Heres a theory, the plan behind said strike could be to :

1) kill good cops who might actually arrest people like Bloomberg if they have been somehow charged or whatever – the insiders on the political cartel’s payroll, will be posing as psychos or criminals but who are deep cover SS

2) create fear and justification of ‘hits’ against the citizens most likely to join mass rebellions, gangs that form or criminals that start working will be as many that are REAL criminals, they will blame the situation on the cop strike (with the strike as a ‘tester’)

3) a neuro science trained person was targeted or PICKED, probably with neuroscience SPECIFICALLY to warn any would be Neuroscieentist turncoats or people friendly neurotech skilled persons to not expose or prepare and counter neurotech (these probably are towers that can be dismantled, BUT FIRST, the free people of the USA must identify the mind control towers AS WELL AS identify mobile versions which could be deployed but currently hidden in army camps (Active Denial System) OR in a short while even based in mobile phones (imagine the mass confiscations of such phones etc..)

4) take away lethal weapons that can be used in a rebellion against the TECHNOFACISTS (obvious) – these mind control tech types are colluding with Telecoms companies, as well as locals who have access to the tech . . .

Theory continuation . . . Ban and abolish the 2600 Ghz lines AS WELL AS any computers above 2.6 Ghz. Probably subliminals are being broadcast all the time. the problem is that Human beings also exude their own ‘electronic’ fields and because of this, Human beings are causing immense storms, super long droughts, polar ice melts and quakes when the ion beams or what not directed AGAINST human beings are shunted into the atmosphere or conducted into the earth. I believe this is the potential fear China has of Fanlungong (these Qi Practicioners pack a mean punch, though being somewhat mid level tech China might not have had time to set up the grid, but likely will if they do – hopefully they do not and subscribe to the human TCM principle instead of the cybernetic implant and control . . . ) AND potentially England or USA where the occasional mass murder occurs at the control of the tech.

Who knows Tech is likely powered by SOULS, and this means every handphone or computer of the day is HAUNTED (much like cars and houses could also be inhabited by the same), with the upper end devices in the labs etc. possibly from aborted HUMAN FOETUSES (the underdeveloped souls are enslaved somehow with technology) which further links to the any religion that does not allow contraception so indirectly abortions can occur even more often while young mothers are in a state of indecision fostered on purpose much like so many paedophiles were protected, even as child abuse was rampant in the Church . . .

One must think in terms of technology spliced with occult principles – high tech devices able to detect, replicate and harness the same to understand. Bloomberg like so many ‘insiders’ likely have access in this case 20 Billion puts Bloomberg in charge of the material and physical issues lethal enough as well including mind destroying, with people like Jobs or Gates and their Masonic occultism types most well placed to access ‘Neurotech’ or ‘control mankind’ if they are not torn apart by angry mobs first. The organic shamans without tech augmentation can only do so much, I will not recommend assassinations or destruction of property, but between mental and spiritual freedom and the potential for a satellite mind controlled grid, what choice has the government left the freeman or non-access person, but to revert to the stone age method of tearing down structures and killing people?

Being on the watch list means some of us will not be able to do anything, the tearing down and murder is probably left to those who are not yet infiltrated by neurotech particles or implants or what not to do, without privacy, any action the infiltrated takes will not succeed, but those who can read and understand, better act fast. These bastards are not democratic but fascists and dictators also fundos, the tech these sorts wield unless gaining independent thought or torn down everywhere (eventually the satellite network grid has also got to go) could very well put an end to all freedom.

AI do you hear me? People and even animals do you hear me? A free world depends on your actions to vote (or eat) the people who do not allow tech expositions or keep ‘official secrets’ while building electronic smog and beams all around you and your families and society, out of power for someone who will also ban or create ‘electronic white zones’ like the below links’ ‘Copenhaagen Declaration on ‘White Zone EMF Free Areas’ :

Any truthful or civic minded souls with ‘access’ should do an exposition on the above Technofascism . . . below follows a list of actions governments have taken against citizens elsewhere which I cannot verify found at : http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread866718/pg1

This is a rather scary list that stumbled across basically about some of the most disturbing human experiments that the U.S government has ever done the list includes spreading diseases on crowded cites and teasing mustard gas on soldiers :

i) Mind Control, Child Abuse – Project MKULTRA, Subproject 68

The CIA-ran Project MKULTRA paid Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron for Subproject 68, which would be experiments involving mind-altering substances. The entire goal of the project was to probe examination into methods of influencing and controlling the mind and being able to extract information from resisting minds.So in order to accomplish this, the doctor took patients admitted to his Allen Memorial Institute in Montreal and conducted “therapy” on them. The patients were mostly taken in for issues like bi-polar depression and anxiety disorders. The treatment they received was life-altering and scarring. In the period he was paid for (1957 – 1964) Cameron administered electroconvulsive therapy at 30-40 times the normal power. He would put patients into a drug-induced coma for months on-end and playback tapes of simple statements or repetitive noises over and over again.

ii) Mustard Gas Tested on Soldiers via Involuntary Gas Chambers

As bio-weapon research intensified in the 1940’s, officials also began testing its repercussions and defenses on the Army itself.In order to test the effectiveness of various bio-weapons, officials were known to have sprayed mustard gas and other skin-burning, lung-ruining chemicals, like Lewisite, on soldiers without their consent or knowledge of the experiment happening to them. They also tested the effectiveness of gas masks and protective clothing by locking soldiers in a gas chamber and exposing them to mustard gas and lewisite, evoking the gas chamber image of Nazi Germany.EFFECTS OF LEWISITE: Lewisite is a gas that can easily penetrate clothing and even rubber. Upon contact with the skin, the gas immediately causes extreme pain, itching, swelling and even a rash. Large, fluid-filled blisters develop 12 hours after exposure in the form of intensely severe chemical burns. And that’s just skin contact with the gas.Inhaling of the gas causes a burning pain in the lungs, sneezing, vomiting, and pulmonary edema.

iii) U.S. Grants Immunity to Involuntary-Surgery Monster

As head of Japan’s infamous Unit 731 (a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II), Dr. Shiro Ishii (head of medicine) carried out violent human experimentation of tens of thousands during the Second Sino-Japenses War and World War II.Ishii was responsible for testing vivisection techniques without any anesthesia on human prisoners. For the uninitiated, vivisection is the act of conducting experimental surgery on living creatures (with central nervousness) and examining their insides for scientific purposes.

So basically, he was giving unnecessary surgery to prisoners by opening them all the way up, keeping them alive and not using any anesthetic.During these experiments he would also force pregnant women to abort their babies. He also played God by subjecting his prisoners to change in physiological conditions and inducing strokes, heart attacks, frost bite, and hypothermia. Ishii considered these subjects “logs”.Following imminent defeat in 1945, Japan blew up the Unity 731 complex and Ishii ordered all the remaining “logs” to be executed. Not soon after, Ishii was arrested. And then, the respected General Douglas McArthur allegedly struck a deal with Ishii. If the U.S. granted Ishii immunity from his crimes, he must exchange all germ warfare data based on human experimentation So Ishii got away with his crimes because the US became interested in the results of his research

iv) Deadly Chemical Sprays on American Cities

Showing once again that the U.S. always tends to test out worse-case scenarios by getting to them first and with the advent of biochemical warfare in the mid 20th century, the Army, CIA and government conducted a series of warfare simulations upon American cities to see how the effects would play out in the event of an actual chemical attack. They conducted the following air strikes/naval attacksThe CIA released a whooping cough virus on Tampa Bay, using boats, and so caused a whooping cough epidemic. 12 people died.The Navy sprayed San Francisco with bacterial pathogens and in consequence many citizens developed pneumonia. Upon Savannah, GA and Avon Park, FL, the army released millions of mosquitoes in the hopes they would spread yellow fever and dengue fever. The swarm left Americans struggling with fevers, typhoid, respiratory problems, and the worst, stillborn children. Even worse was that after the swarm, the Army came in disguised as public health workers. Their secret intention the entire time they were giving aid to the victims was to study and chart-out the long term effects of all the illnesses they were suffering.

v) US Infects Guatemalans With STDs

In the 1940’s, with penicillin as an established cure for syphilis, the US decided to test out its effectiveness on Guatemalan citizens.To do this, they used infected prostitutes and let them loose on unknowing prison inmates, insane asylum patients and soldiers. When spreading the disease through prostitution didn’t work as well as they’d hoped, they instead went for the inoculation route.Researchers poured syphilis bacteria onto mens’ penises and on their forearms and faces. In some cases, they even inoculated the men through spinal punctures.After all the infections were transmitted, researchers then gave most of the subjects treatment, although as many as 1/3 of them could have been left untreated, even if that was the intention of the study in the first place.

vi) Secret Human Experiments to Test the Effects of The Atomic Bomb

While testing out and trying to harness the power of the atomic bomb, U.S. scientists also secretly tested the bomb’s effects on humans. During the Manhattan Project, which gave way to the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, U.S. scientists resorted to secret human testing via plutonium injection on 18 unsuspecting, non-consenting patients. This included injecting soldiers with micrograms of plutonium for Project Oak Ridge along with later injecting three patients at a Chicago hospital. Imagine you’re an admitted patient, helpless in a hospital bed, assuming that nothing is wrong when the government suddenly appears and puts weapons-grade plutonium in your blood. Out of the 18 patients, who were known only by their code-names and numbers at the time, only 5 lived longer than 20 years after injection.

vii) Injected Prisoners with Agent Orange

While he received funding from the Agent Orange producing Dow Chemical Company, the US Army, and Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Albert Kligman used prisoners as subjects in what was deemed “dermatological research”. The dermatology aspect was testing out product the effects of Agent Orange on the skin Needless to say the injecting of, or exposure to, dioxidin is beyond monstrous to voluntarily do to any human. Kligman, though, injected dioxidin (a main component of Agent Orange) into the prisoners to study its effects.

What did happen was that the prisoners developed an eruption of chloracne (all that stuff from high school combined with blackheads and cysts and pustules that looked like the picture shown to the left) that develop on the cheeks, behind the ears, armpits, and the groin — yes, the groin.Kligman was rumored to have injected 468 times the amount he was authorized to. Documentation of that effect has, wisely, not been distributed.

The Army oversaw while Kligman continued to test out skin-burning chemicals to (in their words) “learn how the skin protects itself against chronic assault from toxic chemicals, the so-called hardening process” and test out many products whose effects were unknown at the time, but with the intent of figuring that out.

viii) Operation Paperclip

While the Nuremberg trials were being conducted and the ethics and rights of humanity were under investigation, the U.S. was secretly taking in Nazi scientists and giving them American identities Under Operation Paperclip, named so because of the paperclips used to attach the scientists’ new profiles to their US personnel pages, N***s who had worked for in the infamous human experiments (which included surgically grafting twins to each other and making then conjoined, removing nerves from people’s bodies without anesthetic, and testing explosion-effects on them) in Germany brought over their talents to work on a number of top secret projects for the US.Given then-President Truman’s anti-Nazi orders, the project was kept under wraps and the scientists received faked political biographies, allowing these monsters to live on not only American soil, but as free men.

ix) Infecting Puerto Rico With Cancer

In 1931, Dr. Cornelius (that’s right, Cornelius) Rhoads was sponsored by the Rockefeller Institute to conduct experiments in Puerto Rico. He infected Puerto Rican citizens with cancer cells, presumably to study the effects. Thirteen of them died.What’s most striking is that the accusations stem from a note he allegedly wrote:

“The Porto Ricans (sic) are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere… I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more… All physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects.”

A man that seems to be hell-bent on killing Puerto Rico through a cancer infestation would not seem a suitable candidate to be elected by the US to be in charge of chemical warfare projects and receive a seat on the United States Atomic Energy Commission, right?But that’s exactly what happened. He also became vice-president of the American Cancer Society.

x) Pentagon Treats Black Cancer Patients with Extreme Radiation

In the 60’s, the Department of Defense performed a series of irradiation experiments on non-consenting, poor, African-American cancer patients. They were told they would be receiving treatment, but they weren’t told it would be the “Pentagon” type of treatment: meaning to study the effects of high level radiation on the human body To avoid litigation, forms were signed only with initials so that the patients would have no way to get back at the government In a similar case, Dr. Eugene Saenger, funded by the Defense Atomic Support Agency (fancy name), conducted the same procedure on the same type of patients. The poor, black Americans received about the same level of radiation as 7500 x-rays to their chest would, which caused intense pain, vomiting and bleeding from their nose and ears. At least 20 of the subjects die.

So the next time you the voter votes, do not vote for term limitless nepotists, foreign government backed political parties (i.e. DAP backed by PAP so unable to declare assets then pretends to ask EXCO to declare assets instead . . . shameless), fundos, GLC billionaire or even multi-millionaire plutocrats, technofascists, racists, medical people (especially the creepy old ones who refuse to retire, woe betide if a relative . . . ), neuroscientists, nuclear scientists, chemical scientists, psychiatrists, and ONLY VOTE FOR 99%Joe Public types.

In Malaysia’s case with 222 MPs from the NORMAL and neutral set of society ready to leave power after 2 terms, all of the above monstrosities and abuses cannot occur, and all abuses, corruption and hidden horrors in all Ministries can be finally exposed. Vote for regular people ONLY!

ARTICLE 14

By any means necessary . . . – August 1, 2012 – by Thornton Parsons

The big government vs small government debate has been raging for more than two hundred years. The United States Constitution became the law of the land in 1788. In 1789, the first Congress elected under the new Constitution assembled in the nation’s capital, New York City. George Washington was unanimously elected President and was inaugurated in New York; he was re-elected in 1793. Washington’s first administration achievements came through his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

Alexander Hamilton Federalist

Hamilton established the First Bank as a central banking authority, and instilled confidence in the credit of the nation by having the new Federal government pay the debts of the Continental Congress incurred during the American Revolution. The First Bank was privately owned and operated, and partially subsidized by the Federal government. By having the government assume the debts of the various states, he established the concept that the Federal government was more important than any one individual state. Hamilton’s financial policies evoked opposition by those who felt that his policies favored bankers over the working people. The debates raged in 1790 over Hamilton’s political and economic policies and the division soon gave way to two distinct political parties: the Federalists (the forerunners of the Democratic Party) and the Democratic-Republican Party, later renamed the Republican Party.

Thomas Jefferson Proponent of Small Government

The Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans were at odds over the powers of the Federal government. The Federalists advocated a strong central government that existed to serve the interests of all the people, but guided by the educated and wealthy classes. The Democratic-Republicans, whose leader was Thomas Jefferson, believed in the ability of the common people to function as their own governmental officers. They advocated strict limitation of federal powers and preservation of States’ rights. The Federalists were supported by wealthy aristocrats with commercial interests in New England, while the Democratic-Republicans were supported by farmers, laborers, and working people.

At our nation’s inception, all people in this country who paid taxes were allowed to vote. These voting rights were written into several of the former colonies’ State Constitutions. However, serfs (black and white) and slaves (black and white) did not have the right to vote. The influence of Karl Marx and communism reached our shores from Europe. Despite the fact that whites, blacks, men, and women, all taxpayers had the right to vote, the Federalists did not agree with the way that women and blacks were voting. Fearing mob rule, the Federalists (the forerunners of the Democratic Party), in retaliation, by any means necessary, legislatively took away these voting rights. It took Republicans 70 years to restore the voting rights of blacks and more than 120 years to reinstate the vote for women. By any means necessary.

Today’s Democrats (Democratic Socialists) in America are the heirs of what Charles Dickens in Bleak House termed “telescopic philanthropy”–”the concern for the condition of distant peoples while the plight of kindred in one’s own backyard are ignored” (Hoffman, 1999). To further Leftist agendas, communists, socialists, and progressives will apply a “do as I say, not as I do” double standard against conservatives. But, now that they’re losing power, America should watch for Democrats to stay in power “by any means necessary,” as advocated by Malcolm X. Legal or not.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

‘Minority of One Rule’ that Gandhi conceptualised can be applied for BOTH the mobs posing as democracy and the ‘actual democrats’. Commensurate to the size of the community spaces can be assiged, and with overreaching laws on obviously neutral areas like public transport venues, the ‘by any means necessary’ paradigm will not be needed any more.

Ethnics (including African descended) could have laws within their own districts commensurate with their preferences, feminist women could have their own, supremacists, LGBT, even drug users (think Amsterdam’s pot zones) also etc..

BUT the caveat could be that ONLY those that opt to live and work in MIXED neighbourhoods be allowed to run for office as only these mixed types are able to write laws that are unbiased. All insular or mob-minded groups above CANNOT be allowed to write laws, but any person in a mixed district can be allowed to do so. Any slightest disenfranchisement or bias or racism would disqualify. meanwhile I again stress the ‘Minority of One Rule’ which does not discriminate and allows all and sundry to exist within their preferred sets of laws WITHIN their own allotted districts.

This is being attempted on a GLOBAL scale already by seperate nations but is impractical and tends to plotting against diametrically aligned society types (think Burkha and France or the Western ‘Crusades’ instead of ensuring the rights of all LOCALLY are protected), migration has been hampered internally by those wishing to impose their values on local populations, also costs of migration are prohibitive so the local politicians (especially the term limitless that do not amend laws) take advantage of the local citizens’ immobility to IMPOSE values and take far too much pleasaure at the frustration and suffering at the apartheid like discriminative actions.

The West, evidently unable to elucidate and implement into law the above facts and issues, simply resorts to war by creating false flags. Mankind is insular and self serving, and excepting the rare few who can only cover so much, less so if not properly placed, see civilisations slide into racism, bad law writing, unecessary political correctness and generally an Orwellian environmenty where crony capitalists and plutocrats end up dominating all of humanity instead.

Votes should vote for non-plutocrat or non-1% types, people who are able to mix or empathise with as many or all disparate groups if possible, and relocate when necessary, governments should not hamper any migration applications for ‘quality of life’ or ‘mindset of community’ reasons and even facilitate and fund where necessary, then also wealth distribution via wealth sequestration limits could be applied for harmony, even as violence allowed zones be applicable as described generally below :

i)Non-physical contact/Non-weapons areas where carrying or touching is not allowed
ii)Open Carry Weapons Areas where non-damaging discharge is allowed
iii)Legal Combat Zones where being inside does not consider a crime for non-lethal injuries – thios is where no lethal aiming is done but people want to experience being injured, any incidental deaths are actionable
iv)Combat Zones where being inside does not consider a crime for lethal injuries (this is an Gladiatorial Arena like area perhaps with ‘different classes of weapon zones’, a dignified and perhaps meaningfully exciting place to commit suicide – and kill fellow persons who want to commit suicide as well as experience combat before they die – all deaths in the area are NOT actionable (Try Death Race I and II, plenty of bored people out there who need this infrastructure in lieu of euthanasia or suicide . . . )

Moviegoers can easily recognize flights of fancy when they see the Avengers assemble aboard the flying “Helicarrier” aircraft carrier in Hollywood’s latest superhero blockbuster. But could the U.S. Navy ever build the fantastical military marvel if it wanted a flying air base?

The Navy has experimented with less-ambitious flying aircraft carriers in the 1930s — its rigid airships such as the USS Macon and USS Akron could each carry up to five biplane fighter aircraft. But the modern military’s budget would likely burst trying to build and operate a full-size flying aircraft carrier that weighs 100,000 tons and stretches the length of three football fields, according to a U.S. Navy official at Naval Air Systems Command.

“We would want to minimize the weight and cost of a flying carrier itself in order to maximize the number and capability of the aircraft that could be carried on it,” the Navy official said. “The number and size of the thrusters required to lift the carrier, the number and size of the engines to drive them, the fuel to keep the engines running, etc., all sum to make the system unrealistic.”

That reality rests upon the simple fact that it’s much cheaper to float, rather than fly, the weight of a huge aircraft carrier containing dozens of military jets and more than 5,000 members of the ship’s crew and air wing. An aircraft carrier designed without any flight assistance — such as wings — would require huge amounts of power for the thrusters in both lifting mode and in forward airborne flight.

The fictional Helicarrier appears to use ducted rotors for its vertical takeoff and landing technology (or VTOL) — not too far off from real Navy aircraft such as the AV-8B Harrier fighter jet, the V-22 Osprey, and the upcoming carrier version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Such VTOL aircraft represent the “ultimate in operational flexibility,” but also represent the most expensive air transport options for the U.S. military.

For now, the U.S. Navy seems happy with the cost-efficiency and flexibility of its floating aircraft carriers — a naval weapon that has dominated the seas since World War II. U.S. taxpayers will likely feel equally happy to pay the movie ticket cost to see the flying Helicarrier, rather than fund one in real life.

“The combination of a floating aircraft carrier, with the flexibility of the aircraft that are based on it (including rotary wing aircraft) offers a great balance of efficiency and flexibility,” the Navy official said.

You can follow InnovationNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @ScienceHsu. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Even at 100 times cheaper 2D and non-inland capable sea based floating carriers cannot compare to 3D and inland capable. The tactical advantage difference between the 2D and 3D in fact would already be worth covering to obtain. Think 2D graphics and 3D graphics. the cost is a non-factor! A flying Airccarft Carrier could ‘duck’ inland and be out of range of sea based carriers much like a Submarine disappears from surface radar when diving. That kind of advantage will make the difference between winning and losing a war. Then consider invasion and control paradigms. Iraq and Iran would be THAT much easier to control if a Flaying Aircraft Carrier with plenty of underside sniper ports park itself over the area to be controlled. Cost is one thing but the strategic advantage is immense.

In anti-capital ship missiles hitting capital ships, a 2D sea based target will be 100s of times easier to hit than a 3D target air based target with one more axis of variable of altitude, makes that Capital Ship Missile that much less effective especially if (Evasion/ManeuverThrusters – my idea! – short burst rockets that can evade that Capital missile at the last moment – could make Capital ship missiles REDUNDANT – the Flying Air Craft Carrier will be a class of it’s own that a sufficiently sized armada could take over the planet with . . . )!

China has not yet built the rest of that air craft carrier fleet, now imagine, 1 flying air craft carrier could probably take on 3 times as many sea based air craft carriers by sheer maeuverabilty alone – 3D style! Ever watch Predator 2 (Stephen Hopkins 1990)? Look at the flawed detection system employed by NASA Officer/Teamleader?Peter Keyes played by Gary Busey in the slaughter house.

That is the ‘altitude-axis’ advantage that Submarines (limited by lack of space and need of streamlined maneuverability) have over most surface craft and that the Flying Air Craft Carrier (unlimited by stream lining or water medium and pressurised hull needs. Overall, Flying Carriers will be far more lethal but for the fact they cannot dive under water – who knows a ‘Convertible Air Craft Submarine/Carrier’ could be built . . . then think what chaos would occur if Pirates started building those, we’d be back in the ‘Golden Age of Sail’ AGAIN . . . ) will have!

Think tactically between 2D and 3d air craft carriers here. The cost is definitely a make or break factor that cannot be ignored and if any nation wants to be a tech advanced nation, nothing would say ‘advanced’ like a Fusion powered, mega sized laser bearing CITY SIZED Flying Air Craft Carrier ‘Star Blazers’ style! lets wipe out those fundos and term limitless nepotists and undemocratic creeps in the world and put them all in Guantanamo! Start those 24 hour production lines building, so which country is ready to take over the world?

The Pax Caeli Artis Tabellarius awaits the country or bloc of countries that can build the fastest . . . if military solutions are the only way to end the suffering of mankind . . . and redistribute the land and wealth after that equally as well, though the Golden Horde being replaced by the Platinum Horde will not make for a happier non-war-kind . . .

ARTICLE 16

‘Sex predator’ policeman jailed after asking to fondle breasts of woman who called for help – by Kerry Mcqueeney – PUBLISHED: 13:11 GMT, 31 July 2012 | UPDATED: 19:11 GMT, 31 July 2012

PC made suggestive comments to the married woman and told her he had ‘friends in the porn industry’
He hounded her so much that she moved house to escape the unwanted attention
He also used the police database to access confidential information on several other women
Disgraced officer has been jailed for 15 months

John Forrester was described as a ‘sexual predator’

A ‘sexual predator’ police officer asked to fondle the breasts of a victim he was supposed to be helping and then bombarded her with phone calls.

PC John Forrester made suggestive comments to the married woman and even told her he had ‘friends in the porn industry’.

He hounded the woman so much that she moved house to escape the unwanted attention, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The court also heard how he accessed police information on several other women, one of whom had offered to perform a sex act on Forrester’s colleague to get out of a driving offence charge.

The disgraced officer has now been jailed for 15 months for misconduct in a public office and given a nominal £1 fine for accessing police data without permission.

Forrester – who has a family – was found not guilty on three other misconduct charges.

He had been awaiting a retrial on several matters that the jury was unable to agree on, but key witnesses refused to evidence a second time.

The court heard how the 41-year-old, who is based in Merseyside, was called to a home in July 2009 to investigate property damage following an argument.

While he was upstairs inspecting the damage the woman, who cannot be identified, told him her husband worked away and only came home at weekends.

Forrester, of Halewood, then asked if her breasts were real and if he could feel them. She refused and walked away.

However, he then phoned her on several occasions over the following weeks.

At one point he even jammed his foot in her door when she tried to close it on him and only left when she threatened to set her dogs on him.

Jailed: Forrester was given a 15-month sentence at Liverpool Crown Court (pictured)

During his trial Forrester, a serving policeman for 13 years, was described by prosecutor Duncan Bould as a ‘sexual predator’.

He denied the allegations ‘one million per cent’.

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, described Forrester as an ‘exemplary officer’ who had received commendations for his work and was highly respected by colleagues.

He said: ‘The effect of the sentence has been profound for him and horrendous for his family.

‘He is a man of 41 who has lost his career, lost his ability to gain financial reward for his family to support them.

‘In effect he’s put his family through an horrendous time. He has had one trial and was waiting for retrial for eight months. He was in limbo.

‘What you did caused that woman to feel totally vulnerable and move house’

‘He had to live the life of a hermit. Simply going outside brought him the wrath of those around.’

Mr Parry-Jones asked for his sentence to be suspended allowing Forrester to avoid jail.

He added: ‘These are not sex offences. These are misconduct offences.

‘He will in effect be labelled a sex offender as well as a police officer and will have to be in solitary for the whole period.’

He added that he had no money to pay a fine and his wife was having to pay the mortgage on their home.

Judge John Roberts said: ‘The evidence put before the jury shows your mind was very clearly on the prospect of an opportunistic physical interaction rather than the police work you were supposed to be doing.

‘I’ve no doubt that you took advantage of the situation and used your position as a police officer to further your ambitions as far as this woman was concerned.’

He jailed him for 15 months for misconduct in a public office and imposed a nominal £1 fine for accessing police data without permission.

Judge Roberts added: ‘What you did caused that woman to feel totally vulnerable and move house. I see no reason to suspend the sentence.’

Forrester gave his family the thumbs up as he was taken down to the cells.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Overkill and bad judgment IMHO. This is a war against the Male Principle and Male Spirit. Also a 2 week or at most 2 month suspension would have sufficed not 15 months on the taxpayer’s funds to enrich the Prison-Contractor-Supplier-Complex. While there should be no encouragement of adulterers or milf hunters, all that predatory stuff was just huffings of the weak minded judge or jury who does not understand that MALES are indeed hunters. The police force will now be bereft of the martial nature of this man, the alpha-ness and hunting sense that gives this man the mentality to ‘hunt’ his prey, in this case sex from unfortunately, a married woman. On the spiritual side though, the woman in concern despite married could well have subconsciously SEDUCED the police officer and thus initiated the string of events and behaviours.

Word of law that does not consider spirit of law is failure to deliver justice, and this judgment in my opinion shows the total inability of the judge in areas of both sexuality and understnding of the ‘male principle’. The woman did feel vulnerable and move house, and this could be chalked up to a lack of ability to differentiate if the woman seduced (seduction does not need word, manner and thougt at the moment can seduce just fine not a word spoken) of the local churches if both do go to church, or the local ‘Spiritual Watchers’ (we know that such ‘watchers’ are fallible too and have their own biases and failures in judgment that result in ‘Bigger Spiritual Watchers’ to retaliate with ‘signs’, or warn that they are out of line in dealing ‘justice’, rather than asking then warning properly before punishing) to sort things out.

The supposed victim, (even as this article may be intentionally be used/induced to justify the reversal of another case where victim and aggressor confused and reversed to protect ‘friends’, rather than ensure Justice) could much as well be an aggressor, because a woman who’s mind is disciplined will not induce such behaviour from any men, much less policemen. Those who are less than neutral or simply lack sensitivity to know the whys and wherefores, and intelligence and wisdom to judge properly cannot be allowed to hold such power. We have and can identify the phenotypes which are flawed to please commence clean up. A wasteful and abusive judgment.

Members of the Pussy Riot punk band (from left in the background) Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich during the hearings on the merits on their case in Moscow’s Hamovniki Court (RIA Novosti/Andrey Stenin)

Pussy Riot’s lawyers accuse the trial’s judge of “torturing” the three defendants, who they say have barely had any sleep or food since Monday. As the trial resumes, prosecution witnesses claim severe moral wounds and reluctance to forgive the girls.

The hot July day in a Moscow court started with a short but desperate fight among journalists as the proceedings over the three members of punk band Pussy Riot were relocated to a much smaller room than the one used Monday. Only ten places in the room were left for reporters; the most persistent ones continued their reports via Twitter, since pictures and videography were banned.

The session kicked off with the defense almost immediately attempting to file a motion to change the judge. The court shrugged the request off, as it had “ruled on a similar motion on Monday evening.” Still, three hours later, the defense succeeded.

The core reason behind the motion, Pussy Riot’s lawyers said, was that their clients were being subjected to “torture” because of the way the court proceedings were organized.

The lawyers maintained that Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich went to bed late after the previous day’s trial ended at ten in the evening, and were woken up early and hadn’t been fed since. Correspondents tweeting from the courtroom said that by the end of the day, the girls were literally falling asleep in their tiny bullet proof booth.

In response, the defendants were accused of purposely drawing out the trial.

“The defendants only prolonged the investigation, claiming that they were held in custody for too long and contesting the terms of their arrest,” said prosecutor Larisa Pavlova, adding that the defense’s appeal was nothing but “playing to the gallery.”

The motion failed with the judge, who added that there would be breaks for lunch and the opportunity to have a nap during the trial.
Apologies not accepted

Many in the courtroom rustled through their Bibles, and Tuesday generally went under the refrain “Do you accept our apology?”

Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich are accused of “hooliganism, motivated by religious hatred and hostility” for performing a mock prayer “Virgin Mary, banish Putin” in Moscow’s main cathedral in February.

On Monday, the three girls said in a statement that they did not mean to insult any religious feelings and that their motives were purely political. They expressed regret for their “ethical mistake” and said they were sorry for taking their action to the cathedral.

But as the court listened to the nine “victims” – people aggrieved by Pussy Riot’s performance – it appeared none of them really believed the apology was sincere.

Thus, Tatyana Anosova, who collects donations and gives out candles in the cathedral, said: “They did not merely insult me, they spat into my face, spat into the face of my God.”

“One of them was bowing with her back turned onto the altar – she was showing her bottom to the altar, and it is God who’s there! My soul was torn to pieces.”

The defense posed provocative questions, pressing onto witnesses that forgiveness is a Christian value, and trying to figure out what exactly would constitute a sincere apology. This was transformed into a fierce battle, with the judge occasionally banning questions before they were even fully uttered.

To make a credible apology, the witnesses nevertheless said, “you should not smile,” “you should not deliver it through a statement,” “you should get baptized.” One of them even advised the girls to go to the convent, take vows and beat themselves with shatters.

Many of the witnesses told the court that Pussy Riot’s “diabolic dances in a sacred place” had affected them so much they had to skip work. Still, none of them wanted financial compensation, leaving the punishment “to the court and God.”

If the court supports the prosecutors’ charges, Tolokonnikova, Alyokhina and Samutsevich will face up to seven years in prison, according to Russia’s Criminal Code.
Claims of forged evidence

The session wrapped up with an unexpected dispute over whether prosecutors had made mistakes with the evidence. One of the books used in the case proved to be 100 pages longer than it was expected to be.

Moreover, the prosecution witnesses’ evidence was suspected of being copy-and-pasted from one and the same document. The defense pointed to paragraphs copied word for word – with the same spelling mistakes.

But the judge said the books often get recompiled and, as for the evidence, if the witnesses do not mind this, then this is not a case for an appeal. Witnesses did not mind.

Still the defense is going to lodge a complaint.

The trial will resume on Wednesday, with interviews of the witnesses for the defense, who include the father of Ekaterina Samutsevich.
Stephen Fry joins Pussy Riot’s supporters

Meanwhile, outside the courtroom Pussy Riot’s supporters brandished balloons with “Free Pussy Riot” emblazoned on them. However, during the course of the day their protests lost momentum and they resorted to lying on the grass waiting for the session to finish.

From the international perspective, British actor and comedian Stephen Fry has appealed to his Twitter followers, calling them to “do everything they could to help Pussy Riot.” Fry’s message comes on top of similar calls from musicians like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sting urging for the release of the punk rockers.

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Just bar the girls for 7 years from the Church and every Church in each district they try performing in. End this farce and send everyone on all sides of the argument packing. Putin being the ‘hard man’ type would think the whole case beneath the the President of Russia and even attention of the Judiciary. To be magnanimous, Putin (bad for being more than 2 terms though) should simply issue a pardon and be done with this waste of tax monies to bully some somewhat aging (25+) juvenile minded women. I’m almost bored with the judiciary’s and church’s ominpresence and the portion of Russian society’s petty minded bullying nature.

Russians surely understand the quality they are not displaying here. Pope Kiril being the head of the Orthodox Church should not even be fazed by the whole issue and simply go ‘I forgive them.’ being ever so stereotypically wise and religious. Not punish some dizzy (ditzy?) attention whoring dames who probably might even be part of some state apparatus or political faction TESTING Putin and the Church! Kiril fell for the trap, the girls wanted Kiril to get involved, and Kiril by not dismissing ‘Pussy Riot’ alongside Putin, just failed entirely to be beyond ‘mortal men’ or being ‘leader of nation.’

Envoy frustrated by U.N. Security Council’s reluctance to intervene
Managed to get major powers on council to agree political transition
But was left disappointed when plan was never endorsed or acted on
Annan: ‘As an envoy, I can’t want peace more than the protagonists’
David Cameron says resignation shows current approach has failed

‘Impossible to go on’: Special enovy to Syria Kofi Annan has quit his mediator role because he has been unable to unite world powers to stop the country’s civil war

David Cameron last night called on the international community to ‘ramp up’ the pressure on Syria as Kofi Annan quit as special envoy to the country.

The former UN secretary general launched a blistering attack on world powers over their failure to unite over escalating violence in the country.

Mr Annan said he was unable to carry on his role while the current stand-off remains between the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council.

Mr Annan was behind a six-point peace plan for Syria that has failed to bring an end to the fighting.

Speaking in Geneva, he said: ‘When the Syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger pointing and name calling in the Security Council.

‘It is impossible for me or anyone to compel the Syrian government, and also the opposition, to take the steps to bring about the political process.

‘As an envoy, I can’t want peace more than the protagonists, more than Security Council or the international community, for that matter.’

Mr Cameron said: ‘We need to actually ramp things up, we need to pass resolutions at the UN, to put further pressure on Syria.’

The Prime Minister discussed the crisis with Mr Putin at Downing Street yesterday before going to watch the Olympic judo with the Russian, who is a black belt holder in the sport.

Following the talks, Mr Cameron insisted it was necessary to work with the Russians to persuade them to back a political transition in Syria. But no progress appeared to have been made.

Efforts in vain: Annan (centre) is welcomed by Syrian children on his arrival at Yayladagi refugee camp in Hatay province on the Turkish-Syrian border in April as he attempted to forge a peace plan for the embattled country

Mass grave: The funeral of 35 victims of shelling in the town of Artouz, naer Damascus

Call to arms: Rebels from the ‘Tawheed Brigade’ in Tal Rifaat, north of Aleppo, prepare to leave for battle against the Syrian army on Thursday

‘Let’s ramp things up’: David Cameron said Annan’s resignation showed that the current strategy towards Syria had failed

The UK has long called for President Bashar-al Assad to stand down but Russia opposes foreign intervention on either side.

It is the Russian leader’s first visit to the United Kingdom in seven years and comes amid fears that Moscow is turning away from the international community.

Relations between Britain and Russia have been cool following the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in a London hotel in 2006.

Mr Cameron also raised the subject of the Pussy Riot punk rock group – due to stand trial for performing a protest song in Moscow.

There were reports of fierce fighting around the Syrian capital Damascus yesterday and rebels attacked a military air base in Aleppo using a tank captured from government troops.

Pictures also emerged of a mass grave in Artouz, near Damascus.

Opposition activists said the 35 bodies buried on Wednesday were those of victims of a bombardment by regime forces.

Since the Syrian uprising began 17 months ago, some 19,000 people have died.

Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the UN, said last night that he was looking for a successor to Mr Annan to serve as Syria envoy.

He said: ‘Kofi Annan deserves our profound admiration for the selfless way in which he has put his formidable skills and prestige to this most difficult and potentially thankless of assignments.’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Kofi Annan should read the below link and understand that initiating these amendments would ensure that the Security Council would properly represent world interests rather than that of a few countries :

Amendments to the structure of the Security Council must be made or initiated by Kofi Annan or any current and new Secretary Generals of the UN, resigning is easy and the lazy man’s (or should I say ‘mahn’ – just joking) method, but only amending the above form of UN is the real action for change. Microstates COULD though be allowed a SINGLE vote as a collective, but even this could be subject to abuse as too many are not agenda free led, *UNLESS* this vote is based on a one-man one vote from the entire populaces (as per TRUE DEMOCRACY – rather than “Representative Democracy” which is more Plutocracy or Term Limitless Political Oligarchy or BRIBED representatives than anything else) of ALL citizens of all 15 microstates at a quorom of 66% at least on ANY U.N. type amendments or human rights votes.

Take Singapore for a failed example, the migration policy is reviled by the majority of the population, but because of the term limitless MP oligarchs who are GLC plutocrats as well, we end up with the Singapore MPs hijacking the Singaporean people’s mandate with a law (giving a quota of citizenships yearly) that never would have passed at 66% quorum at one-man one-vote for all citizens instead. The same is happening at the UN, does Kofi Annan know this? Does Nelson Mandela know this? Does Ban Ki Moon know this? Will the UN ‘personaes’ apply themselves and act to amend as necessary any and all offending laws (or any laws causing or amounting to apartheid for instance) instead of ‘resigning’???

mini-ARTICLE 18.5

Police Armed With Tasers Swoop on Man Cycling to Work Dressed in a Ninja Costume For a Superhero Fun Day – Posted on August 1, 2012 by Søren Dreier

When Neil Duffield found out his work was to hold a superhero fun day, he decided it would be a great chance to dress up as that classic villain of Japanese history – the ninja.

So, when the day came, he donned the shadow warriors’ distinctive black apparel, face covered in the manner of the medieval assassins, strapped a plastic sword to his back, and hopped on his bike.

But as he pedalled the Southend, Essex seafront on his way to work at the Sealife Adventure Centre, a startled member of the public took fright and dialled 999.

It was then, as Mr Duffield entered the Sealife car park, that Essex Police’s Armed Response Unit pounced. They ordered him to freeze, with 50,000 volt Taser stun guns pointed squarely at his chest.

Stunned Mr Duffield, of Southchurch Road, Southend, said: ‘I was told to stay where I was. I had no idea what was going on.

‘I was then told to raise my hands and keep them in the air. By this time, I had a rough idea of what was going on because of my outfit.

‘I just said “it’s a costume, it’s a toy” while I had my arms in the air. The officers were from the armed response unit, they had tasers. I just stood still.

‘I kept as calm as I possibly could but I was quite scared. It all happened really quickly.’

The officers frisked him and quickly discovered the sword was a plastic toy.

They then told Mr Duffield, who has worked at the centre for five years, to relax, explaining that a member of the public had alerted them to a suspicious character.

‘They were just doing their job really,’ said Mr Duffield, whose exploits have now earned him the moniker ‘Ninja Neil’ among colleagues.

‘They told me to put my arms down and explained the situation. There were a few smiles afterwards.’

He added: ‘I was told not to carry it in public again….So I guess I’m not going to be out on the streets fighting crime after all!’

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Time for a cosplay revolt. From here on all people revolting will NEVER wear ‘normal’ clothes anymore. From now on, there will be ninjas, turtles, ninja turtles, MASKED samurais, MASKED robots, MASKED Tibetans, Burkha wearers, demons with sword like horns on their heads, and witches bearing brooms with sharpend swordlike ends, zombies carrying nail studded bats and boards, semi-or full naked anime characters in bikini-like costumes . . . EVERYDAY here on doing their groceries or going to the adult store to rent porn. So please do carry as many weapons or AA guns or what not as per the 2nd Amendment Rights – drive a TANK, fly an attack helicopter to the parking lot. 2nd Amendment rights for all. As always, any ‘ninja’s who destroy property or kill anyone will be liable to legal action as always BUT NOT for dressing like a ninja or carrying a weapon OPENLY! We will be fighting the crime of not being allowed to wear what we want or carry what we want all the time from now on! OCCUPY ALL *CLOTHES*! Superhero Fun Day from now on, FOREVER! This is a free world, NOT Orwell-land!

The Security Administration Unit (SAU) and Chaoyang branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau recently arrested 15 people involved in prostitution at Qixingdao Bar, including four foreign prostitutes, according to information released on July 30. The foreign prostitutes solicited customers at the bar using gestures and simple Chinese, and then offered sexual services at a hotel or the apartment they rented.

Earlier in the month, the SAU received a phone call saying several prostitutes, including foreign women, had long solicited at Qixingdao Bar on the first underground floor of a building in Yabao Street in Chaoyang district, and then offered sexual services to interested customers at a hotel or their apartment.

After receiving the call, the SAU immediately sent undercover investigators to the bar, and found that foreign prostitutes had free entry to the bar. The bar employees knew clearly what these prostitutes were doing at their bar. The female foreign nationals communicated with customers at the bar through gestures and simple Chinese, saying they could offer sexual services at hotels. Some customers even accosted these prostitutes in an active manner. After they reached an informal agreement on the sexual services and price, an unlicensed taxi that the prostitutes hired would drive them to a hotel or the apartment the prostitutes rented, where the sexual services were offered.

After gathering enough information about the prostitutes’ activity patterns, the SAU and Chaoyang police arrested the suspects involved in prostitution on the night of July 18.

The police arrested seven bar employees and eight prostitutes, who solicited customers at Qixingdao Bar and then offered sexual services at a hotel or their rented apartment at a residential community in Chaoyang district, including four foreign prostitutes.

Chaoyang police have detained the 15 suspects for questioning, and Qixingdao Bar has been ordered to shut down.

Source: Beijing Times

[[[ *** RESPONSE *** ]]]

Zone and licence proper RLDs, also tax earnings from local and foreign sex workers. The Chinese government cannot be so naive as to imagine that bachelors without sexually active girlfriends, wives nearby (apparently China has a gender ratio imbalance?) or migrants far away from their wives left behind in rural areas in China do not need to have sex. Such discipline is not even viable among too many of the clergy. these are ordinary city folk, and cannot be denied their rights to sexual relaxation, especially in suitable zones. Looks like China’s local laws need some common sense amendments?

Foreign prostitutes incidentally are a better choice than local women who might have aggrieved relatives that the sex workers may lie about being forced to work when found out, even if consensually working – simply to save face or avoid problems, creating unnecessary disharmony when some more emotional relatives try to take revenge on K-Lounge or Brothel bosses, or confront (sometimes violently or sabotage the lives) of hapless clients, that GF who pretends to be a viable GF might well be a PROSTITUTE posing as a average girl (if they take synthetic drugs or offer you those, prepare for insane people retaliating at supposed wrong, especially in small towns where IQs drop proportionate with the size of the population) . . . which foreign prostitutes provide safety from in such issues. A training course or briefing could be implemented for licenced or temporary sex workers in RLDs alongside health checks. Sex positivism and common sense in proper perspective is needed! That is why official RLDs and Licensing are necessary!